Nowhere Left To Run
by dreamer.dancer.writer
Summary: When Dougie is taken hostage, McFly have to try to keep it together to ensure his safe return. Danny starts to question his feeling for Dougie. Meanwhile Dougie is suffering, but can he stay strong enough to stay alive with nowhere left to run.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N So this is my first fic, please be nice and review :D I shall upload as often as I can and when I manage to write, so much revision at the minute though it's unreal. Enjoy!**

_Chapter1_

The band members of McFly ran off stage to rapturous applause, feeling elated and on top of the world. They tumbled into their dressing room one after the other, laughing and hugging each other.

"That was a brilliant start to the tour" Danny exclaimed, jumping on Toms back and ruffling the blonde boys hair.

"Oi, get off me you big oaf" Tom laughed, shaking Danny off before collapsing on their sofa. Danny promptly jumped on top of him, whilst Dougie and Harry laughed before jumping on top of the pile. Toms muffled groans filtered out from the bottom.

"Can't…breathe…get…arses…off…me" he moaned, which only served to have Dougie wriggle around on top of the pile, jumping off and down a bit. Danny and Harry groaned in unison.

"Dougie, since when did you get so heavy?" Danny exclaimed.

"Well, Toms cooking is pretty incredible" Dougie laughed, his voice mischievous.

"I normally love that, but the fact you are currently turning me into a Tom shaped pancake

makes me wish I hadn't cooked you all those fried breakfasts"

"Ahh Tom, they were like heaven on earth" Dougie reminisced.

"Stop bloody thinking about your stomach for once, and get off of us if you want there to be a McFly to do the rest of the tour!" Harry practically shouted.

"Okay, okay! Jeez, some people need to lighten up" Dougie chuckled as he rolled off of the pile and landed on the floor in a heap. Tom, Danny and Harry all moved so they were sat up and glared at the slight, sandy haired bassist. Dougie looked affronted.

"Hey, stop that. All I did was-"

"All you did was nearly squash us to death Douglas Lee Poynter. This is not a matter to be taken lightly." Danny said in a serious tone. He looked at Tom and Harry who looked back at him with understanding dawning in their eyes. Simultaneously, they all grabbed a pillow each, rolled off of the sofa and starting beating the defenseless boy with them.

Dougie started writhing around, trying to get the three bigger boys off of him. He managed to escape, and ran to the other side of the dressing room, cowering behind a chair.

"Stop it, stop it" he cried, covering his face with his hands and laughing.

"Not until you learn your lesson" said Tom menacingly, brandishing his pillow in front of him as he prowled across the room to where Dougie was with the other two. Dougie stopped laughing and starting backing away. Tom, Danny and Harry sped up, until they were running at the boy. They pounced on top of him, and whilst Danny and Harry hit him with their pillows, Tom tickled the small boy mercilessly until tears were running down his face.

"Mercy, mercy, please have mercy" he cried helplessly.

"Have you learnt your lessons ickle Dougie-kins?" Tom asked with a threatening tone.

"YES" Dougie screamed.

"Okay boys, I think we've drilled it into him" Tom announced and sat back, surveying Dougie. The others laughed, and getting up, started to collect their coats, ready to go home. Dougie stayed where he was, waiting for an opportune moment to get his own back. Spotting one, he ran across the room and jumped on Toms back, who then fell into Danny, who dragged Harry down with him until the four boys ended up in a pile on the floor. Dougie grabbed the two pillows nearest him and started beating the other boys with them.

"Now who's the one who needs to learn their lesson hmm?" he laughed, the others chuckling along with him whilst trying their hardest to get up. Suddenly the door burst open and Dougie sprung up off the floor in shock, taking a good look at the new comers. He could hear the other boys stand up next to them, but couldn't take his eyes off of the people standing in the doorway.

There were four men standing there, dressed all in black with balaclavas on their heads, guns in their hands trained on the band members. Dougies head reeled. Who were these men, and what were they doing here?

"Looks like we interrupted something boys" said the man standing closest to them in a cold tone, and the three men behind him chuckled. "Why don't you four take a seat and we'll discuss what we're here for"

"NO" Danny shouted. "You'll be the ones that sit down whilst we call security." Suddenly all the guns were trained on Danny, and Dougie shivered. If any one of them pulled the trigger… The front man spoke again.

"What you don't realize dear Danny Jones, is that we are security. Now if all of you want to live, you'd better sit right back down" They complied. There was nothing else they could do. They all sat on the sofa, Tom and Dougie on the ends and Harry and Danny in the middle. The four men stood in front of them.

"Right then, first things first" slowly drawled the man who had spoken. "Seize him" he suddenly exclaimed, and the other three men leaped forwards and grabbed Dougie. Pulling him harshly to his feet, they had dragged him away from his friends, behind the man and had a gun against his temple before the rest could react.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N so hope you enjoyed the last chapter, just uploading everything I've written so far. Sorry the chapters are so short at the minute, I hate short chapters so they will get longer as the story goes on. This is also actually a hard fic to write in terms of content, I keep crying whenever I write some of it! I just had to write it as the plot kept going round and round my head and wouldn't leave me alone, and sometimes you just need a reason to have a good cry :L Anyway, enjoy!**_  
><em>

_Dannys POV_

I sat there in shock. How had everything gone from perfect, to rock bottom in less than five minutes. I could sense the other two sat there staring at the men who had Dougie as well. The man who seemed to be their spokesperson spoke again.

"Consider him your….incentive" he almost smiled. I reeled. Incentive for what? Luckily, Tom had had the same thought, and more wits about him.

"Incentive for what?" he asked hoarsely.

"For the twenty million dollars you are going to find for us and give to us in a weeks time, or this one won't see the light of another day" he said, his tone icy. I gasped. Twenty million dollars in one week or we wouldn't ever see Dougie again. It's impossible. But we have to.

"Twenty. Million. Dollars." Harry choked out. The men nodded. The man holding Dougie spoke this time.

"If you ever want to see your skinny little bassist again" he growled, shoving the gun tighter against Dougies cheek, meaning the other side of his face smashed against the wall. Dougie groaned and me, Tom and Harry all leapt to our feet. Immediately, three guns were trained on each of us.

"Move, and you'll never even get the chance to save your precious Dougie" one of the men spat. My heart sank. We had no hope of getting Dougie back. The same man spoke again.

"We're taking him now. We expect to see you in a weeks time, with the money. We'll be in contact between now and then, with some incentive to keep you going. We don't want to see you with the money before the week is up, our boss has taking a liking to little Dougie here and wants to have some….fun….with him. We want the twenty million in tens and twentys. If any of these terms are not met, Dougie will be killed. Am I making myself clear?" he outlined the conditions in a steely tone. I nodded, unable to do anything else. We were bound to what these guys said. We do anything different, Dougie gets killed. I had never been in a worse situation.

_Dougies POV_

I was helpless, pressed up against the wall with a gun against my face, listening to some man tell my friends they had to raise twenty million dollars in a week or I was a dead man. And I hated it. I hated the thought that they would have to raise all this money just for me. As much as I wanted them to get me free, I almost wanted to just be killed rather than them waste all that money on me, Douglas Lee Poynter, mediocre bassist, singer and songwriter, good friend, occasional good son. And I also knew that they'd all hate me for thinking like that. I just had to trust my friends would know what they were doing.

Suddenly the man holding me pulled me away from the wall and shoved me harshly through the door. I could hear one of the men calling a good bye to my band mates, before I was blindfolded and shoved through the halls of the arena we were playing in.

_The tour._ Crap, I'd forgotten about that. It seemed a million years ago we were on stage, having the best time of our lives, but in fact, it had been little over an hour. And what would they tell the fans? I had no way of knowing. All I knew was that I just had to survive the next week somehow. I knew that they were going to hurt me, of course I did. That I could deal with, but I also knew they were going to send videos and photos to my friends. That was the most horrible part. I knew it would affect Danny especially and I hated not being able to be there for him.

I heard the sound of a metal door opening and I was picked up and slung onto a cold tin floor. I winced as the bruised side of my face smashed against it, and I heard one of the men chuckle.

"Lots more where that came from Poynter" the man snarled, and I heard more laughs as the door slammed shut with a metal ring.

It seemed like hours later, but could've only been about 10/20 minutes when the door to what was obviously a van opened again. I was tired, cold, cramped and it seemed like every part of me ached after lying on the floor of the van. No one spoke this time, and I just felt myself being pulled roughly to my feet before being shoved along again by a man behind me. I was still blindfolded, so I had no way of knowing where we were, or what they were leading me to. Eventually, after what seemed like going through a million corridors and down even more staircases, the shoving stopped. I heard a key turn in a lock, a door creak open and I was pushed through. Someone pulled my blindfold off and I blinked into the darkness.

"Welcome to your new home Poynter" the man behind me said harshly. "Time to get ourselves some incentive for those band mates of yours" he added with a cold chuckle. I flinched inside. I knew what was coming, and that it wasn't going to be pretty. I could only pray they wouldn't kill me…

Yet.

_Danny's POV_

It had been over an hour since Dougie had been taken, and we still hadn't moved. We'd sat there, all three of us in shock, frozen like statues. Eventually Harry seemed to come to his senses and moved.

"Guys" he started hesitantly. "C'mon. Just sitting here isn't going to help Dougie. We need to get up and do something" That was it. Just the sound of Dougie's name was enough to set me off, and the emotion that had been building in me since the men had taken hold of Dougie let itself out in a torrent of tears.

"Guys, what if Dougie's being really hurt? And how are we going to raise twenty million dollars? We don't even have a million pounds" I managed to sob out, before the flow of tears became too great for me to speak any more. I felt rather than saw Tom come and put his arms around me.

"Shhh Danny, it'll be okay in the end" he soothed through his own tears, not answering any of my questions. He couldn't answer any of my questions. None of us could. No one knew what was going to happen to Dougie now he had been taken.

"Theres got to be somewhere, some bank that will help us get the twenty million" Harry cried out desperately, his voice breaking. We were all affected by this greatly. Dougie was the baby of the band, only 15 years old. That was why they took him and not us. They were clever and calculating.

They knew the loss of Dougie would hurt us more than if they took me, Tom or Harry, as much as it pained us to admit it. I wanted to take his place, put up with what they were going to put him through and I knew Tom and Harry did as well. And his family, how were we going to explain this to them? This thought only served to make me cry harder.

"Guys, what about his mum?" I choked. I heard the other boys voices hitch and they cried harder. Dougie was still his mums baby, still a teenager. She hadn't even wanted him to move away in the first place, how were we going to explain this to her? She was never going to let him be in the band again. That is, if he even came home.

"We can't tell her" Tom said decisively. "At least, not until he's home" I gazed up at Tom. His eyes were red and puffy, but steely. I nodded weakly, glad someone was taking charge as I was in no position to myself.

"And he will come home" Harry added, his voice hoarse from all the tears he'd shed. I nodded again, the other boy's words injecting some semblance of strength into me. I was still crying though and was too weak to do anything while Tom and Harry silently gathered our things together, all three of us just appreciating still being together.

We had been in that silence for about two hours, none of us wanting to go outside our dressing room and face the real world where we would have to find the words to explain Dougie's disappearance, when suddenly a loud knock at the door made us all jump. Tom paled immediately and me and Harry froze, our gazes fixed on the door.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N so this is the last for a while, until I get bored of revision and write more of this :D Anyway, this was the hardest chapter to write so far, the content is necessary but not all that pleasant. Read on however, it does get better! (I think this one may be a bit longer as well!)**

_Dougies POV_

I stood there for about five minutes, tensed and waiting for them to hurt me. The only sound in the room was my harsh breathing and the men behind me's slightly calmer breaths. I groaned inside. These people were cold and malicious enough to play with their prey before they pounced. I had no idea when they were going to start, and had no intentions of turning around. I didn't want them to see my face, or my tears when they did. It was more a matter of male pride than anything.

Suddenly, I felt a steel toed boot connect with my side hard, and stumbled, turning to face them, all the wind knocked out of me. There was a harsh laugh.

"Like that one did you Poynter?" someone asked me.

"Plenty more where that came from" someone else interjected.

"And we have a lovely top of the range high definition video camera to capture it all in, so your band mates feel like they were really here" another man finished up menacingly. I started to cry, and these only seemed to infuriate them.

One of the men dressed in black pounced towards me and punched me on the bruised and cut side of my face, his fist like iron. I started to fall to the floor, but before I could another man caught me around the neck, his vice-like grip cutting off my air supply. I gasped, struggling to breathe whilst the third man punched me repeatedly in the stomach, his fist also seeming made of iron.

Suddenly I was released and fell to the floor, hoping it was all over as every bit of me was on fire with pain, but alas, it was not to be. As soon as I had hit the hard concrete the three men were upon me, kicking every part of me over and over again with their steel capped boots. I heard another man laugh. He was clearly filming this, ready for my band mates.

Eventually, when they had tired of my fun, they stopped kicking me and walked away, pausing only so one of them could hiss that they'd be back, they just had to get the tape to my band mates and in the mean time I needed to change into the pair of jogging bottoms they had left for me. They warned another man would be along in half an hour to check I had.

All I could do for a while was lie there, tears streaming down my face, trying my hardest to gather the strength to get changed. I was left in no doubt by the men that more beatings were ensured if I didn't get changed before someone came to check. Yet I had no strength left.

I groaned, my heart sinking miserably. I was stuck here, and could see no way out.

_Dannys POV_

"Maybe it's just Fletch or someone" Harry said, not a lot of hope in his voice. Me and Tom just nodded though, it was the only scenario we wanted to contemplate. Then a cold voice came through the door.

"If you don't open this door within ten seconds, I will knock it down and your precious Dougie will pay for your mistake" I gasped and leapt forwards, opening the door as fast as I could.

"Well, well, I see we're learning. By the end of the week you will know exactly what to do" I gasped again, remembering that it was at least a week until we see Dougie. The man spoke again. "Now boys, this is only a flying visit, nothing like you'll get later on in the week. I just wanted to drop these off. I think you might find them…_interesting" _Tom paled again and Harry froze. I was still thinking coherently enough to move though. I reached for the thick brown package the man was holding and looked down at it. This was the only link to Dougie, the only way we'd see his face for the next week, perhaps forever if we didn't raise the money in time.

I raised my head and glared at the black clad man in front of me.

"Now now Daniel" he reprimanded. "Remember anything you do or say I don't like has an immediate effect on the way we treat Douglas. So I reckon that's another five minutes kicking you've earnt him" I gaped at the man, not understanding how a human could be so…cold. And not care about another hurt human. "Now if you'll excuse me boys, I must get back to the man of the moment himself, see if he's done as he's told. If he hasn't, well I think we all know what's going to happen to him. See you soon lads" and with that our cold, heartless visitor left.

We sat there in silence for a while, each of us staring at the package in my hand, wanting and not wanting to open it. Wanting to so we could see the full extent of the damage they'd been doing Dougie. Not wanting to open it because we'd have to see the full extent of the damage they'd been doing to Dougie. Our emotions were in turmoil and eventually Harry broke the strained silence.

"Well, d'you reckon we should open it?" he asked hesitantly. I nodded. We needed to see this for our own sakes, and I also wouldn't put it past the men to actually check if we'd opened the envelope. Tom reached over and took the slightly heavy parcel from my non resistant hands.

"Well, here goes nothing" he said, slowly tearing open the wrapping with shaking hands. I watched numbly, dreading whatever would fall out. Tom upended the package, and a piece of paper slid out, along with a DVD in a case and a whole pile of photos bound together with some string.

Harry leant over and took the piece of paper from off the table in front of Tom.

"Guys, it's a letter" he said quietly.

"Read it then" Tom cried impatiently.

"Okay, okay. Right then" Harry muttered, coughing to clear his throat.

_Daniel Jones, Thomas Fletcher, Harry Judd._

_If you're reading this then you decided to open the parcel, for which I must congratulate you. It means one less beating for Dougie...though of course, we may give him more. Just for kicks, you must realize. When I or one of my colleagues next drops round to your house, and rest assured, it could be as soon as later tonight, you must tell them the safe word 'Transylvania'. This will let them know you have seen the contents of this package and are therefore complying with our terms. You must also be aware that we could drop in at any time, and we expect you to be home, ready to greet us and do what we want. I would advise you not to leave the house for the next week. You also need to find some way of telling your management and fans you are cancelling the tour. Rest assured, you tell anyone what's happened and we will kill Dougie. Immediately._

_Until we meet again._

Harry stopped reading and we gaped at each other.

"Why d'you reckon the safe word's Transylvania?" I asked the only question I could bear too, all the others would've made me break down again.

"The best song Dougs ever wrote. Makes sense that would be the safe word" Tom replied dully. Meanwhile, Harry was absentmindedly turning over some of the photos laid face down on the table. He suddenly let out a loud gasp, tears starting to stream down his face. He blindly turned over more and more of the photographs.

"Nooo, no, my poor Dougs" he moaned, almost incoherent. Tom was by his side again in a flash.

"Haz, what's wrong?" he asked. Harry pointed down at the photos. Tom looked down and sucked in a deep breath.

"Jesus" he breathed. "How can anyone hurt someone like that? How is it possible they would look that bruised and battered without being dead? HOW?" Tom's words were striking fear into me. I moved to his other side and picked up a selection of the photos. Immediately I felt like I couldn't breathe. The photos were all of Dougie who had clearly just been beaten to a pulp. He was on the floor, each photo showing a different angle and part of his body. Every bit of him looked purple and black, cuts covered him like another layer of clothing and one side of his face looked smashed in. His white shirt had turned red with blood and his dirty blonde hair was matted and covered in dirt. The scariest thing though, was that he was lying there completely still and one of his legs was bent at an unnatural angle to his body.

"Shit" I said, and promptly ran over to where the bin was in the dressing room and threw up what felt like the entire contents of my stomach. I felt a comforting hand rub my back, and Toms voice told me they were going to play the DVD. I wondered, why they were torturing themselves like that, then it dawned on me that they needed to see this for Dougie, so they knew what he'd been through when he came back. And he would come back, I knew this. I picked myself up off the floor and joined Harry and Tom in front of the TV, where Harry was sliding the disk into the player. He pressed play, and suddenly the image of a dark room flashed up. Dougie and three other men where in the middle of the room, and one the men had hold of Dougie around the neck, clearly cutting off his air supply. Suddenly, he was released and fell painfully hard onto the floor, where the three men proceeded to kick Dougie where ever they wanted, Dougie crying out in pain each time a boot connected with a part of him. Worse than the horrific images on screen and Dougies cries though, was the fact that you could clearly hear all the men laughing. I sat in shock. Not only were these men hurting Dougie far beyond what a person should have to go through, they were enjoying it and laughing. How could anyone get to that stage where they beat someone to the point where the pain they are in must be so bad they wish they are dead, and then enjoy it. I watched numb, as they eventually got bored and turned off the camera, leaving Dougs there, every visible part of him bruised and battered and his leg sticking out, obviously broken.

"HOW COULD ANYONE DO THIS TO DOUGIE? HE'S ONLY 16, WHAT SORT OF SICK PERSON IS THIS? AND LAUGH?" Tom's cries broke through the silence in the room, his voice sounding as heartbroken as I felt. Harry moved and wrapped his arms around the blonde boy, saying nothing, as there was nothing to be said.


	4. Chapter 4

**__A/N so here we are, another chapter written :) I thought the last one was hard to write, nothing compared to this one. But it all fits in with the storyline, and adds to how broken Dougie will be, before a certain someone tries to fix him up again ;) Shall try and write the next chapter in the next couple days, don't have any exams for a while so should be able to do lots of writing. Going to start a Harry Potter next gen fic in the next week as well, keep an eye out for it :D**

**Also, thank you to NeverTickleASleepingDragon555, Orange-Peel-Pixie and madbuff for giving me the nicest reviews :) This chapters dedicated to you guys, as unnice as the subject matter is!  
>Nice reviews are what makes an author want to write more and update sooner, so if you're reading, just click that lovely little review button, trust me, it makes all the difference :D Anyway, enjoy! <strong>

_Dougies POV_

"Well well Douglas" a cold voice sneered. "I see we haven't managed to obey orders and change. Looks like someone won't be eating for the rest of the week. You'd better be changed by the time I come back, or we'll think of some other way to motivate you" I couldn't even muster the energy to cry. Everything felt broken, and I couldn't see a way out. I heard footsteps leave the room again.

Slowly I managed to sit up, and huddled against the wall behind me. I gazed around the room, but there was nothing to be seen. It was pitch black, and I already knew there was no furniture. Looking down, I saw an unidentifiable pile of black beside my right leg, which was bent at a strange angle. I started sobbing again, knowing that it was going to take me a while to get changed, but didn't know when the men would come back.

Gathering all the strength I possessed at that moment, I slowly lifted my sore arms and slipped my t-shirt off, abandoning it at my side. Then, even slower, I started to pull my skinny jeans down, managing to get them over my unbroken leg. Taking a deep breath, I inched the other jean leg off over my broken leg, gasping in pain as it was jolted. Eventually I pulled my skinnies off completely and sat there on the cold concrete floor, shivering, colder than I'd ever been before, clad only in my boxers.

It felt like I'd been sitting there forever, but I finally managed to get myself moving and sorted through the pile of black beside me. I felt my heart sink when I realised they'd only given me a thin pair of black sweat pants, not even a t-shirt or anything to keep me even a little bit warmer. I leant back against the wall, my energy completely wiped, not wanting to have to move to get the sweat pants on over my broken leg.

I sat there for a while, before I became aware of a black shadow above me. It laughed menacingly.

"Poynter. I've been nice, I gave you two chances to get dressed as we'd said, but you decided not to comply. Now, sat there in your boxers, its almost like you're _inviting _me to do what I'm going to. Very thoughtful of you. Of course, we also have my friend over there filming this for your wonderful band mates, so put on a nice show for me!" he chuckled again and suddenly placed a big, warm hand on the cold left side of my chest.

He traced the contours of my torso for a while, hissing appreciatively. I sat there, feeling numb, not wanting to recognise what he was going to do next, even though I knew full well what was going to happen. He stood up, pulling me with him. Once stood up, my weight resting mostly on my good leg, he spun me around so I was leaning against the wall, my back to my captor.

He quickly and harshly pulled down my boxers and smacked my arse cheek. I gasped at the sudden flare of pain, before another pain took over completely. I felt something hard and unfamiliar between my legs, and he roughly pushed into me using no protection or anything to make it easier. I screamed, the pain overtaking everything else. My eyes unfocused and I felt him moving in and out, the pain getting worse if that was even possible. It must've taken a good five minutes but I eventually felt a new sensation between my legs and the man behind me pulled out, leaving behind a residue of an experience I didn't want to go through again.

My captor spun me around again until I was facing him again. He punched the worst side of my face, kicked me in the side with one of his steel toe capped boots again, and once I was on the floor smashed my head against the cold solid concrete. I faded into unconsciousness, feeling violated, dirty and very very isolated and alone the whole time.

* * *

><p><em>Danny, Tom and Harry third person POV<em>

Danny, Tom and Harry sat in the kitchen of the McFly house, the pictures and DVD of Dougie spread out across the table. Danny really didn't want to look at them, but his eyes were drawn to the worst ones. He constantly wondered _how _anyone could do this to a fragile 16year old. The tension and emotion built up and up inside of him, until he couldn't take it any more, and snapped.

"TOM" he screamed at the top of his voice. The blonde boy in question flinched, and turned his head slowly to look at Danny. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. IF YOU HADN'T HAVE WANTED DOUGIE, THE YOUNGEST OF ANYONE WE TRIED OUT FOR THE BAND, DOUGIE WOULD STILL BE OKAY"

"WELL HAVEN'T YOU THOUGHT THAT IT WAS MAYBE YOUR FAULT AS WELL? YOU WENT ALONG WITH DOUGIE, IT WASN'T ENTIRELY MY DECISION. IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN, YOU EVEN SAID HAVING SOMEONE THAT YOUNG IN A BAND WOULD GIVE US AN EDGE, TAKE US TO THE TOP. AND IT DID." Tom retaliated, more stung that Danny would say those things to him than angry at Danny.

"I NEVER SAID THOSE THINGS. YOU DID, YOU WANTED THE EDGE DOUGIE WOULD GIVE US, I JUST THOUGHT HE WAS A BRILLIANT BASSIST. BUT WE COULD'VE SETTLED FOR SOMEONE OLDER, AND THEN MAYBE THIS WOULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED"

"DON'T BE STUPID YOU IGNORANT FUCKER. OF COURSE THIS WOULD STILL HAVE HAPPENED, JUST WITH ONE OF US. THEY ONLY TOOK DOUGIE BECAUSE HE'S THE YOUNGEST, AND THEREFORE WE ARE MORE LIKELY TO COUGH UP THE CASH"

"OH SO NOW YOU'RE SAYING IF IT WAS ONE OF US WE'D JUST LEAVE THEM THERE WITH THOSE BASTARDS TO DIE? SOME BLOODY BANDMATE YOU ARE THOMAS FLETCHER"

"DON'T YOU TWIST MY WORDS DANIEL JONES, OF COURSE WE WOULD STILL GET THE MONEY IF IT WAS ONE OF US. I'M JUST SAYING, BECAUSE DOUGIE IS ONLY 16 WE FEEL MORE PROTECTIVE OVER HIM"

"OF COURSE WE BLOODY FEEL PROTECTIVE, WE'RE MORE OF A FATHER FIGURE TO HIM THAN HIS FUCKING DAD EVER WAS"

"And there you go, my point exac-"

"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU. CAN'T YOU BOTH SEE SCREAMING AT EACH OTHER ISN'T GOING TO HELP DOUGIE. IT WAS NONE OF OUR FAULTS, GOT IT? THEY JUST TOOK DOUGIE BECAUSE THEY ARE SICK BASTARDS WHO LIKE HURTING PEOPLE IN RETURN FOR LOTS OF CASH. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WILL ACTUALLY GET THE MONEY MOVING SO WE WILL GET OUR DOUGIE BACK" Harry broke down at that point, and couldn't take it any longer. He glared at each of his bandmates in turn, who both looked down at the floor. Tensions were running high, and everyone was on breaking point, worried for Dougie and scared. Harry turned and fled out the door, heading for the one place that would bring him comfort at that moment in time - Dougies room, in Dougies bed, under Dougies covers.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Quite a short little chapter, pretty much just wrote itself in the last 30 minutes before I went to bed last night :L Nothing major happens, just moving the story on a little, allowing us to see more of how Tom, Danny and Harry feel! Also, reading back through it I realised I'd failed a little on the ages front. I put Dougie as 15 in the first chapter, however he is actually 16 and I meant to write that :L Tom, Danny and Harry are all around 19/20 in this :D**

**Thank you again to Orange-Peel-Pixie and NeverTickleASleepingDragon555, and also thank you to xxMECxx for giving me such lovely reviews! It really does make me want to write more, so if you're reading this just spare a couple minutes of your time to click that lovely little review button :D**

**Disclaimer: Oooops, keep forgetting to do one of these :L Anyhow, heres a question for you. Do you really think I'd be sat here writing this if I owned McFly? Answer: Stupid question, of course not. McFly own themselves (chuckles ;) ) I just own the plot and the kidnappers...unfortunately :L**

**This also ends on a lovely little cliffhanger that's not really a cliffhanger, but anyway, I shall try and get the next chapter up tomorrow :D Until then, enjoy!**

* * *

><p><em>Danny, Tom and Harry third person POV<em>

Harry lay curled up in Dougies bed under the covers, shaking with the force of his sobs. He couldn't believe Dougie had gone, but more than that couldn't believe Tom and Danny had shouted at each other the way they did, at a time when the three remaining members of the band needed to be stronger and together more than ever. They couldn't tell anyone, the massive weight that was Dougies kidnap rested solely on the three boys shoulders. And they were boys really, barely 19 or 20, too young to be coping with what was happening to Dougie on their own.

Yet they couldn't tell anyone what was happening. They did and they would never see Dougie again. As much as it hurt to carry the burden by themselves, it was nothing to what they would feel like if they lost Dougs forever. It was true what Danny had said really, they were more of a father figure to Dougie than his own father. Dougies father had walked out on him, mere weeks after Dougie had joined the band. Harry had never seen the slight boy more upset, until now.

Harry cried harder, if that was even possible. He sniffed, inhaling the familiar scent of Dougies pillow that was uniquely Dougie. There was no other smell like it.

Downstairs, a more sober Tom and Danny looked at each other across the table. Tom backed down first.

"Listen Danny, I'm sorry about what I said. Harry's right. We need to get this money moving. I couldn't bear not seeing Dougs again" Tom finished on a broken whisper and looked down at his hands clasped in his lap, tears starting to stream down his face again as he contemplated the horror of never seeing the small bassist again.

"I'm sorry too Tom" Danny confessed, his voice full of emotion. "I didn't mean to say those things, everything just got to me and I snapped. I never should've shouted at you" he gazed at the tall blonde boy across from him, blue eyes pleading for forgiveness. Tom looked up and flashed a quick, weak smile at Danny.

"I know Danny. I didn't mean to say those things back. We're just all stressed and at breaking point right now. What's most important here is that we put aside those feelings and just focus on Dougie and getting him away from those bastards as soon as we can" Tom said, his tone not one to be messed with. Danny nodded slowly, his eyes steely.

"First things first. We need to contact some banks and see if they can get the money within a week" Danny said, his head starting to formulate different plans of actions. Tom nodded in agreement and jumped up to grab the landline and a phone directory, as well as his laptop. Danny pulled his laptop towards him and grabbed his mobile out of his pocket.

The two boys started to research different banks in their area as well as some slightly further away. They fell silent for a while, both concentrating on the task in hand and feeling slightly better to be doing something positive, something that might help them get Dougie back.

Suddenly, a loud knock reverberated around the house. Tom and Danny froze, Danny in the middle of typing something on his keyboard, Tom flicking through the phone book. A loud thump was heard from upstairs as Harry fell out of Dougies bed in shock.

Slowly, Tom and Danny turned their heads to the direction of the door and Harry started creeping downstairs once he'd picked himself up off the floor.

"Well well well boys, I thought we'd have learnt from last time. Maybe another beating for Dougies might get it into your heads that _when we knock on the door, we expect you to open it_. Immediately." The taunting, ice cold voice slithered through the cracks in the door and made the three boys inside shiver.

Harry ran down the rest of the stairs quickly and opened the door to find two men dressed in black with face masks on. The McFly boys were left in no doubt that these men came from where Dougie was being held hostage.

"Aren't you going to invite me in then boys? After all, it's only common courtesy, a guest shouldn't be allowed to freeze on the doorstep. Even young Douglas is being kept better than that, in a lovely dark cell" the same ice cold, taunting voice spoke again and the three boys inside unfroze at the sound of Dougies name.

After all, if these men were here, they obviously had news about Dougie. It was going to be bad, they knew that, but all three members of McFly not being held hostage were hungry for any news about the youngest member.

Little did they know just how bad it was going to be.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Wooo, another update today :D Been working on this all evening, think it's alright! More angst, more hurt, more Danny starting to realise his feelings...s'all going down :D Should get up at least another 2, if not 3 updates this weekend, maybe more, I have nothing better to do seeing as I have no life! Also, I've started working on a Teddy Lupin one shot, should be up later, pop along and have a look if you want when I've posted it :D Have loads of ideas for more fanfics as well, filled a couple pages in my notebook with them!**

**Thank you again to NeverTickleASleepingDragon555 and Orange-Peel-Pixie for reviewing again, you guys are seriously amazing and make me want to write more :D All you others reading it, please just take a second to review, being my first fanfic I really want to know what people think :D Even if it's criticism, I want to know! Also, if you have any ideas for another fic you would like to see me write, just pop any suggestions in the lovely review box. It's easy, just press that stonking great button at the bottom ;D**

**Anyhow, next chapter should be up tomorrow, in the meantime, enjoy!**

_Tom, Harry and Danny third person POV_

Danny, Tom and Harry stepped back from the door numbly, allowing the unwanted visitors to enter their house. Slowly, Danny led the way into the living room.

"Sit down then you three, no need to be standing up now" the second man spoke this time, his tone kind in a way that made the three band mates trust him less than his companion with the icy cold voice. They obeyed, knowing that if they didn't, they would only make life harder than it already was for Dougie.

"Well I see you're beginning to learn. But alas, it isn't so much fun for us when you behave, so I think we'll relay to the boss that you didn't. We don't do this job for nothing you know" the first man spoke again and ended with a chuckle. The boys shivered.

"Well now, down to business. Your little friend Dougie is doing remarkably well. I heard it from the boss himself who went in to see Dougie earlier, he's doing nearly everything we ask. But of course, he isn't doing everything we ask, and when that happens, well you know the drill. Speaking of, I do hope you opened that package we gave you. The safe word?"

"T-t-transylvania" Danny stuttered in a broken whisper.

"Very good" the man praised. "However, as per the terms of the contract we have to give you more incentive. This time though the boss wants us to be here with you, film your reactions. He does get a kick out of these kind of things. Now if you put this in the video player drummer boy, we'll just make ourselves comfortable over here"

Harry walked slowly over to the men and took the DVD from them with a shaking hand. He placed it in the player and pressed play before walking back over to his chair.

It started with a close up of a pale, shaking Dougie sat against a wall in only his boxers. Tom, Danny and Harry watched in a horrified, shocked silence as they saw a man walk up to him and place his hand on Dougies chest. Tom, if it was possible, paled even further. Danny gasped and Harry merely clenched his fist by his side. The three members of McFly watched on as the young boy was violated over and over again, screaming and crying.

Eventually the horrors on screen ended with Dougie being beaten and having his head knocked against the floor. They saw him fade into unconsciousness and the screen turned black. All three boys were weeping, whilst the two black clad men watched on stonily, one of them holding a video camera and filming the whole thing.

"You, you bastards. You sick, sick SICK BASTARDS" Danny sobbed out, nearly screaming. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO A DEFENCELESS 16 YEAR OLD? SURELY JUST BEATING HIM IS ENOUGH" He broke down, curling into a ball, crying harder than he'd ever cried before.

Tom cried beside him, tears falling in a waterfall down his face whilst Harry sat motionless, whispering Dougies name under his breath whilst tears flowed out his eyes.

"What can we say, it is our job. And rewarding, wasn't that just so much fun to watch? Of course, we prefer the..._physical _aspect of it. Young Dougster is lined up to get my friend here next" the man with the kinder voice spoke almost gleefully and Tom, Danny and Harry sat there, tears forgotten as they gaped at the men, wondering how any human could have a warped enough mind to have enjoyed that and wanted to do it themselves.

"Now the next tape is not one the boss wanted us to bring particularly, however I thought you'd enjoy seeing it. Thomas, if you will" the man with the icy voice held out another DVD for Tom to take. He rose from the sofa, whole body shaking with sobs and taking the DVD from the man, placed it in the player and placed play again. It started where the other one left of, Dougie laid on the concrete floor, naked and unconscious...

* * *

><p><em>Dougies POV<em>

I felt myself come back into conciousness, head throbbing and whole body burning with pain whilst also shivering. I'd never been this cold in my life. Slowly the memory of what had just happened came back to me and I shuddered, crying again and feeling dirty and violated. I carefully sat up and realized I was still naked, which only served to make me cry harder and feel even more dirty. I sobbed loudly into the oppressive, cold darkness, feeling as though I'd hit rock bottom.

It felt as though I'd been in this cell forever, being and raped and beaten. In actual fact, I knew it hadn't been even a day or a night since we'd been the happiest we'd ever been on stage. I only knew this because one of the men had hissed at me as he left the room before they'd bring me water in the morning.

I thought of my band mates. They must be so scared, having to watch everything I was going through. In a way, it wouldn't have been so bad if I knew they weren't going to have to watch it. They must be horrified and terrified. I knew they were going to get the money to get me back, but I almost didn't want them to. I didn't want them to have to find twenty million dollars just to get me home.

And after the rape, who knew if they'd even want to see me again afterwards, once I was released. I felt so unclean and unhuman after it. I wouldn't be able to face them in the same way. I knew that they'd think I was dirty and unfit.

I couldn't see a way out of anywhere. I wanted death to come, so my band mates wouldn't be obliged to worry. It wasn't fair on them. If I just died, they wouldn't have to worry anymore. The new, dirty, violated, unfit to see anyone Douglas Lee Poynter would be gone and they would be able to carry on McFly without me. Of course I wanted to join the band again, if I lived, but the boys probably wouldn't want me back. It would be easier all round if I just died.

Suddenly, I coughed. Then I coughed again and again and again, the harsh, rough, hacking coughs shaking my body. I couldn't stop. And then I saw red all over my hands. Blood. I was coughing up blood. Oh why couldn't death come sooner?

* * *

><p><em>Tom, Harry and Danny third person POV<em>

The second DVD finished and Tom, Harry and Danny started sobbing again. That had almost been the hardest to watch, even though nothing had really happened to Dougie. It had just consisted of him sobbing his heart out, all alone. His expression alone was enough to break even the hardest of men. Dougie hadn't even bothered to get dressed. He'd just sobbed and sobbed until he'd coughed up blood. It was too much for the three boys to take. They all broke down, crying and hugging each other. They knew now Dougie was sick as well as beaten up and violated. All three just wanted the sandy haired bassist back with them, where he belonged. Yet they had another 6 long, hard days to get through before they saw him. They just had to hope he wouldn't die before that.

"Right, thats lovely. Boss is really going to enjoy that. Good day gentlemen" And with that, the two men packed away their camcorder and left the McFly house. The three boys all held their breath until they heard the front door slam and then let it out simultaneously. They all sat back on the sofa, breathing heavily, eyes red and puffy from the crying they'd been doing.

"Er guys" Danny whispered hoarsely. "I'm gonna go upstairs. It's been a long day, tomorrows gonna be longer and I need some time to think"

"Night Danny" Tom and Harry chorused and Danny got up painfully from the sofa and slowly walked out the door and up the stairs.

He grabbed his iPod and headphones before collapsing into his bed and pulling the covers up over his head. He hit the play button and a Blink 182 song started. Danny started crying again, painfully aware that this was Dougies favourite band.

Dougie. Danny was so scared for the slight 16year old. He'd always been the smallest and skinniest member of the band and the others had always been possessive over him. They'd always been there for him, but right now they couldn't be. And that was killing Danny.

Another thing that was scaring Danny right now was his own bloody feelings for the boy. Danny had always known, buried deep down, that he didn't like girls in the same way his band mates did. He'd always found Dougie more attractive than any girl he'd ever seen. Yet he'd never let himself properly feel that way, or let the boy himself know, because he was scared of the heartbreak it would cause him. Yes, he Daniel Alan David Jones was scared of heart break. God knows he'd broken enough hearts over the years himself, but it had never hurt him because he'd never liked or fancied the girls enough.

But only now Dougie was helpless and alone did Danny finally realise his feelings properly. And he hated himself for it. He should be there for Dougie, in the way a friend should be. When they finally got Dougie back, Danny needed to be there for the young boy. He knew it wouldn't be the same, now he knew his feelings. Danny wasn't quite sure how he was going to cope, but he knew he needed to because Dougie would need all his friends around him.

Danny also knew Dougie was straight and even if by some miracle he wasn't, Dougie was going to be so destroyed and broken by what he was going through, who knew if he'd even ever be the same Dougie again. And especially after the rape. Danny knew that after Dougie had been through that, if they did end up together, Dougie probably wouldn't be able to have a normal relationship. Yet Danny didn't care. He just wanted to have the boy back in his arms, safe and sound. He just wanted to be there for him, a safe place where Dougie could find comfort.

Danny painfully cried himself into sleep, thoughts of Dougie flitting round his head the whole time.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Wow, I'm spoiling you guys, 3 updates in one day ;) This is only a really short filler chapter though to move things along a bit. Realised how slow this story was moving, the first day took me 6 chapters to right, so the next couple of chapters should cover the rest of the week, shall keep you from getting bored :D  
><strong>**Reviews are very very welcome, a massive thank you everyone who reviews, gives me so much more confidence to write :D I've also just uploaded a Teddy Lupin one-shot, very different to this story but I really like it :D Go check it out, review if you like :L  
>Disclaimer: last time I checked, McFly still belong to themselves and it still makes me chuckle. Some things never change... <strong>

_Dougies POV_

The hacking coughs that were bringing up blood eventually subsided. I leant my head back against the wall, taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down again. I felt ill, cold and battered. Never before in my life had I felt this bad. And it was all because some men wanted a load of money.

Eventually I came to properly and realised I still didn't have any clothes on. I groaned: that was going to be interesting. Gathering all the strength I possessed at that moment which, granted, probably wasn't enough to get the jogging bottoms on, but I had to try. Slowly, painfully slowly, I lifted my hand and reached for the black pile of material. I wasn't bothered about boxers anymore, I didn't know where they were and anyway, they would just serve as a reminder.

Carefully I shook them out and pulled one pant leg over my one good leg. Pausing to brace myself, I took a deep breath and slowly inched the other pant leg over my broken one. The pain was excruciating. I bit my tongue to keep myself from screaming, even though there was no one near to hear. Finally I pulled them up the last little bit and collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily. Just putting the jogging bottoms on had taken everything I had, I felt so weak and helpless now. Before I could stop myself, I started crying again, before falling asleep shivering with cold.

I had no idea what time it was when I woke up, or even how long I'd been asleep. The only thing I was aware of was another black shadow hovering above my head. I flinched internally and screamed out loud before I could stop myself. It was a knee jerk reaction, I knew that a black shadow over my head meant more pain in some form or another. The black shadow chuckled.

"Well Douglas, you do scream like a girl. Perhaps we should beat some manliness into you" And with that he started kicking me again. I lay there, just moving with each kick from a steel toe capped boot. This had happened to many times before now, I knew all I could do was lie there and take it. Eventually the man stopped and dragged me to my feet, forcing me to put weight on my broken leg. He shoved his face up against mine and I flinched away.

"And to think Poynter, I only came in to give you some water" he said harshly, shoving some water from a bottle into my mouth. I choked on it and the man pushed me to the floor before smashing my head against the floor again. I faded into unconsciousness once more.

* * *

><p><em>Tom, Harry and Danny third person POV<em>

Danny woke up next morning, disorientated and forgetting what had happened the night before. Looking at the time, 2:30, the thought quickly crossed his mind that he should go and wake Dougie so they could eat before playing another show, before he remembered that he couldn't wake Dougie up, for Dougie wasn't there. Danny slumped back against his pillows, wanting to cry but physically not being able to. He had no tears left. Slowly he pushed himself off of his bed and stumbled downstairs.

Tom and Harry were already sat at the table, researching and phoning banks. Danny started to feel slightly happier at the thought of being able to do something useful. He quickly walked across the room and sat next to Harry at the large oak dining table.

"Morning Danny" Tom said, briefly looking up from the phone book he was flicking through.

"Coffee?" Harry asked him, already starting to pour Danny a mug.

"Cheers" Danny briefly replied before asking "so how much progress have we made then?" At this, Tom and Harry's faces fell again. He cursed inwardly before sighing. "I guess no banks want to give us the money then"

"But there's still plenty of banks to phone" Harry said desperately, wanting as much as the other two did to still have some form of hope. Tom and Danny nodded dejectedly. Danny took a deep breath before asking the hardest question he'd ever had to ask.

"Guys, what if, what if, well, you know" Danny stammered around the question, wanting and not wanting to ask it. Tom raised an eyebrow.

"What if what Danny?" he asked.

"What if we don't raise the money" Danny said quietly.

"We will, we can't not" Harry cried, tears once again starting to fall. Tom just gazed at the floor.

"But Haz, it's such a real possibility. What bank is going to want to give us twenty million dollars? I want to get it, I really really do. I don't want to live without Dougie, I can't live without Dougie" Danny broke down again.

"We will. We have to" Tom's voice was filled with a quiet determination. Danny and Harry nodded again, and they all fell to researching and phoning banks.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N so had this chapter all written out on my laptop, was lovely and long, moved the story on loads, took me ages to write as I had a serious case of writers block and then my laptop decided to die on me. Luckily, I saved a lot of it before my laptop died, however I still lost a massive chunk and am rather annoyed. I shall upload what I still have, am writing out what I lost again, in a notebook this time in case my laptop won't play ball. Shall hopefully upload what I lost later when I rewrite it onto my laptop, in the meantime enjoy this!  
><strong>**It actually moves the story on loads, and shall probably contain the last time I write from Dougies sole POV for a while. I actually didn't mean to write Dougie in third person, it just happened :L However I shall probably write about them all in third person for the rest of the fic after I upload what I lost! Moving the story on this fast for a reason, mainly because it's hard to write about hurting Dougie and there's only so much a girl can write on this subject before it gets repetitive! Also, I don't want this to last forever and I also want to write a lot about Dougie's recovery, so somehow need to get him home.  
>Again, reviews are always welcome and really help me want to write more. If you have any ideas, they are all welcome, just click on that lovely big review button at the bottom and stick 'em in. All feedback is welcome :D<br>****Disclaimer: Strange as it may sound, I still don't own McFly. Trust me, if I did I wouldn't be on here writing crappy fanfics :L I only own the plot and the kidnappers, as horrible as they are.  
>Wow, this is turning out to be a long note, so I shall shut up now. As I said before, shall upload what I lost and more later, enjoy this for now!<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Dougie, Danny, Tom and Harry third person POV<em>

Several days passed. Tom, Danny and Harry were still desperately trying to find the money from somewhere, but were feeling like they were reaching the end of the line. Dougie was still in his cold cell, skinnier, sicker and more beaten up than he'd ever been before, as he wasn't eating, was cold 24/7 and received regular daily beatings. Most of these were captured on camera and shown to his band mates. Each one shocked them more than the last as they saw Dougie become sicker and sicker. They were scared he wouldn't even last to the end of the week, even if they managed to get the money somehow.

* * *

><p><em>Danny, Tom and Harry third person POV<em>

Somehow, Danny, Tom and Harry had made it to the fourth day without completely losing their minds. Each day had felt longer than the last and each day had been filled with more worry about Dougie. They'd seen on the various DVDs and photos they'd been given how ill and skinny and broken he was becoming. They knew they wouldn't get the same Dougie back, but they had to try, Danny especially.

They'd spent every waking hour on their laptops, on their phones, looking through phone directories, just trying to find that little bit of hope that would allow them to get Dougie back. They'd spent every hour they were meant to be sleeping worrying about Dougie, thoughts running through their heads making them toss and turn, interspersed with brief moments where they fell asleep, only to wake up again after having had a night mare about Dougie that made them worry more.

In short, they were tired, worried and fast losing hope and falling into a depressed despair. With every _'sorry, we can't help you' _that passed, Tom, Danny and Harry felt like they would never find the money to get Dougs back. Yet they kept trying, mostly for their own peace of mind.

With all the DVD's and images of Dougie they kept being given and emailed from the men, they couldn't not try and do something. When they saw how Dougie looked, they became more and more convinced that they _had _to get him back. They were scared it would all be for nothing though. Dougie still had at least another 3 days in captivity, maybe even longer if they didn't get the money and the men didn't kill him straightaway, and the McFly boys weren't sure if Dougie would even make it that long.

He looked so skinny now, there was barely anything to him and every visible part of him was purple and blue, each day becoming worse and worse. His face was sunken and gaunt, his arms and legs like twigs, his torso practically see through. His broken leg still stuck out at a worrying angle and his head looked almost completely smashed in. In every video now, his coughing was getting worse and worse and each time he coughed now he brought up blood. Yet the men kept doing horrifying, unmentionable things to him and each time they did Tom, Danny and Harry got to witness it through the power of DVD and photography.

But his physical appearance and the shock of what they were doing to Dougie wasn't the worst part. For all three band members left at the house, the worst part for them was Dougies eyes. They were filled with despair and a desperate plead for help, yet at the same time utterly devoid emotion, completely dead eyes.

Dougie was broken, and his friends weren't sure if they'd ever get the same Dougs back again.

* * *

><p><em>Dougies POV (third person)<em>

Dougie huddled against the wall, strength completely drained, feeling broken but somehow numb at the same time. He had no idea how long he'd been kept in his cold, dark, dank cell, but it felt like it had been forever. He couldn't even remember a time when he'd last felt happy. He knew deep down what feeling happy was like, but he had no idea how to any more. The only emotions he'd been feeling were despair, pain and guilt.

Despair because he had no idea how much longer he'd be kept here, didn't even know if he would ever get out again. At his lowest points he knew somewhere inside of him that he'd die in this hard place, alone and sicker and hurt more than he'd ever been in his life. At those times, he wished for death to come sooner.

Pain because of the regular beatings he was receiving, beatings that were adding bruises onto bruises, splitting skin that had already been split and breaking bones that had already been broken. He'd received so many kicks, punches and whips he'd lost count and his head had also been smashed against the ground numerous times. They tended to do that when they were bored of him and wanted him knocked out for a couple of hours so they didn't have to keep an eye on him. Luckily, after that first time, the man had only raped him once more, which was as much as Dougie could've asked for.

Guilt because he felt as though his friends were obliged to raise the money to get him out and Dougie didn't want that. He didn't want them to feel as though they had to raise the money. He also felt guilty because they were worried about him, though at his lowest points he felt as though his mates weren't worried about him, tey just wanted to raise the cash so they didn't have Dougie's death on their conscience.

Dougie lay there, thoughts running around his head. Suddenly, a black shadow loomed above him again. He flinched internally, that small movement making waves of pain run through his body. He hated that black shadow, was so scared of it because whenever he saw it it just meant he was going to be receiving new pain on top of old pain. Dougie didn't know whether he'd ever be able to see a shadow again without freaking. The shadow didn't even bother to speak anymore, just lashed out with steel toe capped boot and iron first, laughing as he did so.

Dougie lay there, only moving every time his body was struck, feeling numb from the amount of times this had happened, yet wanting to cry. He couldn't cry any more though, his tears had run dry. He lay there, wishing for unconsciousness, but knowing his captors were skilled at this and would hit him in just the right places that he would be awake for all of it until they wanted him unconscious. Suddenly, the despair and pain came crashing down on Dougie more than it had before in any of the long hours he'd spent in captivity and the young bassist fell into a deep dark depression, feeling more lonely, isolated, hurt, ill, dirty and violated than he'd ever felt before. He felt as though he was in a deep crevice, with noway out and nowhere left to run.

* * *

><p><em>Tom, Danny and Harry third person POV<em>

Another day had passed, another fruitless day of searching, worrying and a sleepless night. Danny woke up from a light doze he'd eventually managed early on the 5th day, all hope gone from within him. He now didn't believe they'd ever get his Dougs back and was just trying to brace himself for the worst. Tom however, didn't feel the same way.

As Danny stumbled into the kitchen, heart and head heavy, he caught sight of a pale, bleary eyed Tom sat in front of a laptop screen, quickly typing away. Danny shook his head and turned away. Tom refused to believe they wouldn't get the money. Danny knew it was hopeless.

Harry was sat across from Tom, head in his hands, cup of cooling black coffee in front of him. Harry was also starting to believe they wouldn't get the money, but was also still trying with Tom. Danny despaired at both of him, though Dougies death would break him more, Danny being the one in love with the 16year old, Tom and Harry just wouldn't give up and would be utterly devastated when the sandy haired bassist died.

Danny was starting to think it was better to spend the last few days preparing themselves for the worst, so they would hopefully not feel as bad when the news came. He knew his friends would never do this however, so Danny spent hours alone in his room, thinking of Dougie as dead, crying his eyes out.

Sitting down at the kitchen table, Danny mumbled a 'hello' to his friends before lapsing back into the silence that had been in the kitchen before he entered it. They sat there for a few hours, Tom frantically typing away and flicking through yet more phone directories, Harry staring at his cold cup of coffee, Danny tussling with his inner thoughts. The only sound that broke through was Tom's flat, emotionless voice whenever he phoned another bank or company.

Suddenly, Tom spoke into the landline with a more excited voice.

"You can?...Really?

...Promise me you're not joking...you're not?...fantastic, when can you get the money to us?...by the end of the week?...ten million by the end of this week...ten million next week" Tom's voice dropped to a more depressed tone again. "Of course...this will have to do...we'll drop by at the end of the week and pick up the ten million...cash please...thank you again...of course...see you soon" Tom dropped the phone onto the table and stared down at it, his eyes filling with tears. Danny and Harry looked at him, hope dawning in their eyes that had been devoid of it for so long.

"So?" asked Harry impatiently.

"It's good news and bad news. You know that bank by our recording studios, the really small independent one?" Harry and Danny merely nodded. "Well, they say they can get the twenty million, in cash, but they can only get ten million to us this week, we have to get the rest next week. I don't know whether those bastards will accept that, but we have to try. It's the best offer, the only offer we've had all week" Tom finished. Danny and Harry nodded again.

"Email them then Tom, email and see what they come up with" Danny said quietly, before falling silent again. Tom opened up his laptop lid again and whizzed of a quick email.

"I suppose all we can do now is wait" Tom whispered, before he too fell silent. They stayed like that for a few more hours, each of them filled with more hope, yet not allowing themselves to think that they might now get Dougie back, in case the captors didn't accept the offer.

A loud ringing suddenly broke through the tension filled silence. They all jumped and looked at the phone on the table. Danny reached for it hesitantly.

* * *

><p><strong>AN so hope you enjoyed that, am still annoyed about the loss of a significant chunk however I shall soldier on and write it out again, slightly tedious job that it is. Hope to upload the next bit later, review this in the meantime if you will :D Again, all praise/criticisms/ideas welcome!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N another day, another update. Genuinely meant to update this last night, but wasn't having much technological luck yesterday and managed to write this before again deleting half of it and then my laptop crashed again. I then decided everything was against me and this fic and wrote another chapter of my Jodi Picoult novel (shameless plug: You should go check that out and my Teddy Lupin oneshot, a nice review would mean the world :D). But luckily today after a lovely walk on Dartmoor, my technology seems to be behaving itself so we have here a lovely chapter for you.  
>I also realise I've been so annoyed with the last couple of chapters, I've forgotten to thank my lovely reviewers. Just wanted to let you guys know, even when I don't thank you in a note, I do appreciate each and every one of your reviews, they are what makes me want to write chapters faster and update more! Also, all you lovely people alerting this story and favouriting it, just please take a minute of your time to review, it really would mean EVERYTHING.<br>Anyway, this is long enough. Next update should hopefully be tomorrow, I'll shut up now!  
>Disclaimer: Would you believe it, I still don't own Mcfly. Trust me, if I did you would be the first to know!<br>Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><em>Tom, Harry and Danny third person POV<em>

"Hello?" Danny whispered down the phone.

"Mr Daniel Jones" the unmistakable icy tone of one of Dougies captors slithered down the line. Danny shivered and flinched away. "I'm afraid you're going to have to speak up Daniel, I can't quite hear you over young Poynters' screams. I believe the boss is in with him at the moment, having some..._fun. " _Danny started crying again, wondering how someone could be that cold and uncaring.

He shakily shoved the phone at Tom, who took it with a trembling hand and pressed the speaker phone button so Danny and Harry could hear the whole conversation.

"This is Tom now" Tom said, his voice full of confidence, not betraying how shaken up and scared he felt. "Now what about our offer?"

"Ah yes, your offer. Rather unsatisfactory I thought, however the boss does not agree. I think he is getting rather tired of the baby you call your bassist. Yes it's been fun tormenting and torturing him, but he broke so easily. His reactions are so predictable, it's getting rather boring now. However, before you get too excited, do not think for one second we shall stop, because we shan't. I believe we can continue our fun for a couple more days, maybe find some new ways of beating him. But it is time for us now to move on at the end of the week, find someone stronger, who won't break as easily. They're always more fun" The mans words made Tom and Harry cry and Danny cry harder. The man clearly heard them, as he started laughing longer, harder and colder than ever before.

"Ah Thomas, Harry, Daniel. Only weak men cry. You three, so much like that broken boy we have in our cell. Nevertheless, we shall carry on. Your offer. As you have only managed to raise half the money needed for us to return Dougie in an okay condition to your somewhat capable hands, therefore only fulfilling half the terms on your side of the deal, we will only fulfill half the terms on our side of the deal. I believe this is what is called a _compromise. _However, the boss does not want you to know the full details of the compromise, that is something for him and him alone to know. The only thing he will tell you is when you next see Dougie he will be alive, though we cannot guarantee he will stay that way. He also wants you to know that if you tell anyone, the deal will be void and we will kill Dougie. We shall phone with more details on the seventh day. Until then, have fun"

The dial tone rang through the room as Tom, Danny and Harry stared at each other in shock, each relieved they would see Dougie again, but also scared at the state he would be in. A compromise. They wondered exactly what it would entail.

The day passed and the three boys didn't stray from the kitchen, just in case the kidnappers phoned back. They sat in silence and almost entirely motionless, tears streaming down all of their faces still. They were so happy that they would get their Dougs back, though they didn't yet know what sort of state he would be in. From what the icy voiced man had implied, they knew it was going to be worse than it was already and they were all scared.

Eventually it got to the early evening and Tom stirred.

"I'd better phone the bank back, tell them to only get the ten million moving for the end of this week and not to bother about the rest. From what the arsehole said, I think they're moving on and won't bother about the rest of the money" Tom said, his voice hoarse from all the crying he'd been doing lately. Danny and Harry nodded, continuing to stare down at the table. Tom carefully grabbed the phone and pulled the telephone directory towards him. Dialling the number, he absently got up from the table and walked over to the kitchen window. He sat down on the window sill, gazing outside at the snow covered ground. How strange. None of them had even noticed it had snowed.

It showed just how removed from reality the boys had been for the past few days, their lives revolving round the kitchen table and attempts to get the money. They had only moved from the table to either get food or to go to their rooms and pretend to sleep when in reality they were awake, interspersed with moments when they managed to fall asleep before quickly waking back up again.

Tom sighed. Now they knew they were going to get Dougie back, though they still didn't know if he would actually stay alive, or how bad the state he was going to be in would be. The compromise, now that sounded bad. By everything that had been implied, Tom was guessing Dougie would be taken to the brink of death, but wouldn't be dead when the men left him. They were horrible, horrible bastards but Tom also knew people like that were men of their word, had to be because their lives revolved around making and keeping deals. Tom cursed inwardly. If only they'd managed to get the whole twenty million. Then they'd definitely get the 16year old back alive.

He sighed again. He knew it was no use wishing something like that. The ten million by the end of the week was the best offer they'd had and he also knew that even if in the next two days some bank could get the whole lot, the cash wouldn't be in by the end of the week and then they'd be worse off. No, he had to focus on getting the banks ten million and finding Dougs and getting him the best care out there.

As he listened to Greensleeves through the phone as he waited for someone at the bank to pick up, Tom's mind was slowly making a resolve to get his and Harry and Danny's lives back on track. Tom knew that they'd have to help Dougie as much as they could and they were in no fit state to help anyone at the minute. Hell, they were barely in a fit state to help themselves. Dougie's kidnap had really taken a lot out of them all and they were all broken. Not as broken as poor Dougie was going to be, nowhere near as bad as that, but they were broken.

Tom knew that in the next two days before they got the money to the men and their Dougs in return, him, Danny and Harry had to focus on getting some semblance of normality back into their lives and start getting everything back on track. Then, and only then, would they be able to properly take care of Dougie and help him get the help he would need. Tom knew they would have to be there for Dougie and until him and the other boys were feeling better they wouldn't be able to be.

"Hello?" the smooth voice of a woman who worked at the bank slid down the line, breaking through Tom's thoughts. He shook his head to clear it and quickly explained the situation to her.

When he was done he hung up and walked back over to stand in front of his friends who were still staring at the table, tears still running down their cheeks. Tom cleared his throat and they gazed up at him.

"Guys" he started in a shaky voice. "I know it's going to be hard, but we're gonna need to help Dougs when he comes back. We don't know how he's gonna be, hell, we don't even know if he's gonna live once we've got him. But we need to focus on the positive. That bank is definitely gonna get us the money. We're definitely gonna get Dougie back and we'll be able to help him. Thing is, we're also not on top form at the minute, which is understandable, but we need to start getting our lives back on track. If we're gonna help Dougie, our minds and things need to be in a better place than they are now. We have the next two days to get ourselves out of the depression we're all in and we need to do it. Otherwise we aren't going to be able to help Dougie and we need to. It's going to be tough, really tough, but we need to. Okay?" Tom finished his pep talk with confidence filling his voice and a steely look in his eye.

Danny and Harry looked at Tom, at each other, then as one rose from the table and walked round to stand beside Tom. The three best friends looked at each other, then with yet more tears filling their eyes collapsed onto each other in some form of emotion filled group hug, each taking strength from just being near the others. For the first time in days, Tom, Harry and Danny started to feel like everything was going to be okay and some hope starting filling them again. They all knew nothing was going to be the same again, but they felt like things could only get better.

* * *

><p><strong>AN enjoy? Hope you did. Anyway, review? Bloody great stonking button down there if you didn't know, you can't miss it ;) **


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N YAY, 10th chapter and almost 20 reviews :D I love you guys so much, you make writing this FUN! Again, not wanting to beg (am going to anyway) all you lovely, lovely readers who alert/favourite this story please just review. It would mean everything. Seriously.  
><strong>**Also, (shameless plug time) go have a look at my other two fanfics, read and review. Would be actually AMAZING!  
><strong>**Anyhow, another day (or two) in the life of Mcfly and Dougie's capture. Did actually mean to continue this, not leave it on a cliffhanger, but my back is killing me and I'm so tired, so you'll just have to wait another day or two to find out what happens next :O  
><strong>**I actually really like the cliffhanger though, so ENJOY!**

* * *

><p><em>Danny, Harry and Tom POV third person<em>

The next day, the sixth day dawned bright. Danny woke up feeling more optimistic than he had in days. He smiled to himself, knowing tomorrow would be the day he saw the boy he was in love with again. And then the smile faded. Yes, he knew that he would have his Dougs back again, but none of them knew how badly hurt Dougie would be, or how sick.

Nevertheless, Danny knew what Tom had said the previous day was right. If they were going to help him, if Dougie was ever going to be even slightly like that boy he used to be, Tom, Danny and Harry would have to be in a better place mentally than they were at the minute. Danny yawned, stretched and rolled out of bed.

He stumbled sleepily down the stairs into the kitchen. Harry was sat half asleep at the table, mug of strong black coffee in front of him. Tom was at the oven, cooking what smelt like bacon. Danny slowly walked over to the percolator and poured himself a big mug of black coffee. He spooned some sugar into it and sat down next to Harry, who mumbled a good morning.

"Hey Danny" Tom greeted him, not exactly happy but not in a tone as full of despair and helplessness as it had been. Danny smiled slightly. Tom really was going to make the effort to get back to something resembling normality.

"Tom" Danny said back in a sleepy voice. They lapsed into a comfortable silence, the smell of bacon filling the air and making all three boys hungry. Tom quickly fried some eggs then made up the sandwiches. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he loaded percolator, plates and mug onto it and walked over to his friends. They each helped themselves and fell to hungrily.

For a few minutes the sounds of satisfied chewing filled the air, until they all became slightly fuller and slowed down.

"So what do you want to do today?" Danny asked round a mouth full of bacon and egg sandwich. Harry and Tom grimaced.

"Ew Danny, seriously. Get some table manners mate" Harry told him. Danny retaliated by smiling widely, exposing the contents of his mouth. Tom laughed and smacked Danny round the back of the head, causing his to cough and splutter.

"To-om" he whined, taking a big gulp of coffee.

"Da-anny" Tom mimicked, smirking. Harry grinned slightly.

"But seriously guys, what do you want to do today? We can't just sit around at the table all day, we need to start getting our lives back so we can help Doug" Danny said. The other two nodded, suddenly more serious. They were scared for Dougie, but they needed to do this.

"X-box?" Tom suggested and Danny cheered slightly.

"Good suggestion my old friend. COD or fifa?" he asked.

"COD." Tom said decisively and ran off into the other room. Danny and Harry followed, each still clinging onto their mug of black coffee.

The day passed in a haze of COD, fifa, food and coffee. None of them wanted to spend it in any other way, they were all just happy to be doing something other than worrying about Dougie. Of course the worry was always their, in the backs of their minds but they were grateful for the distraction, the attempts of all the others to get things back on track.

Eventually it got late and they all started to yawn. Tom stretched and looked at his watch.

"Guys it's nearly midnight. Bloody hell, didn't realise it had got that late. Nearly morning again now" As Tom said this the three boys looked at each other, the old horror beginning to dawn in their eyes again. Tom paled, Danny stiffened and Harry clenched his fist.

Nearly morning. It was nearly the seventh day. It was nearly time to get Dougie back. Nearly time to see how bad the damage was. Nearly time to have their worlds turned upside down again.

The light mood in the room disappeared, replaced by despair, anger, guilt and many other emotions, none of them nice. Slowly, without saying a word, each lost in their own thoughts, the three boys tidied up the room, turned the TV off and headed upstairs to their rooms for another sleepless night.

The seventh day dawned, grey and raining this time. The boys lay awake in their rooms, terror gripping their hearts. Today was the day. Today they would get Dougie back. Today they would know if he was going to live. They lay motionless, each more terrified than they'd been before.

They stayed in their rooms, each on their beds for a few hours longer. Suddenly, a hard knock on the door reverberated round the house and broke into Tom, Danny and Harry's thoughts. If it was possible, they became even more terrified. Knowing the drill by now though, Tom quickly came to his wits and rose from his bed. Running downstairs, he was soon joined by Danny and Harry.

Danny flung open the door to reveal three black clad men, each with a mask over their head and a gun trained on one of the boys. They quickly moved backwards and let the men in. Silently, they all headed into the living room. The Mcfly members sat on the sofa and the men stood in front of them, guns still held up and trained on the band members.

"Well well well. I must say, that was very smooth. I'm proud. You've finally learnt the drill. Pity you didn't learn it sooner, could have caused young Mr Poynter a lot less pain" the now hauntingly familiar voice of the icy toned man spoke and the three boys shivered. "Ah, Poynter. Yes, that's what we're here for. I believe your week is up hmm? Well, the boss wants you to watch just one last little DVD and then we will take you to your even skinnier little bassist. He's a lot different to when we first met him. Hardly anything to him now, and that cough. Terrible, just terrible. Anyway, Daniel Jones, take this and play it. We're going to make ourselves comfortable over here"

Danny took the DVD in a shaking hand, slowly placed it in the player and pressed play. It started with a scream.

* * *

><p><strong>A****N so yeah, hope you enjoyed, lovely little cliffhanger there isn't it ;) I love everyone who's reviewed, you guys are the best people on earth right now. To those of you reading but not reviewing, seriously, please just take a couple seconds to review. It would mean a lot. Look at it this way, if you were writing your first ever fanfic, you'd want peoples opinions, so please? :L  
>Anyhow, hope you enjoyed! I liked writing this chapter, possibly one of my favourites :L Shall update soon, promise :D<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N WOW it has really been ages since I last updated. I am genuinely sorry for neglecting my beautiful readers. It's mainly because I danced every night after school last week, had so much homework and revision (meant to be revising for the science exam I'm gonna fail right now, but hey, this is more important to me ;) ) and had a slight writers block. It's no excuse I know so please except my humblest and sincerest apologies. I also really enjoyed that cliffhanger as well, meant to leave you hanging for a bit but not this long, I really didn't mean to leave it a week :L Anyhow, I hope this lovely long chapter will make up for it and I will try my hardest to write the next tomorrow and update as soon as humanely possible once I've failed my science exam :D  
><strong>**It**** all****_ gets better after this chapter, this one made me cry so much, but it does get better now. Also, the Busted boys start to make an appearance :D YAY  
><em>Reviews would be the best thing ever, my birthday and christmas wrapped up in one :D For those of you who do review, I love you more than chocolate, dance and Mcfly. That is an awful lot of love :P Keep reviewing my lovelies :D  
>Disclaimer: Really? I'm sure you know the drill by now. I don't own Mcfly or Busted, they all own themselves *chuckles* I only own the plot and them nasty kidnappers.<br>Love to you all, ENJOY :D**_

* * *

><p><em><strong><strong>__It started with a scream._

The three Mcfly boys sat on the sofa gasped, tears running down their cheeks as the scream filled with pure terror and pain carried on and on. There was no picture on screen yet but the boys recognised the harsh cry as Dougies. They had never heard it like that though before. It was blood curdling, filled with hurt and fear, enough to shock the hardest of men into tears.

And right now Tom, Harry and Danny were not the strongest of men and they knew their friend was being hurt more than he'd ever been hurt before, even with everything that had gone on in the past week. This scream was beyond anything Dougie had screamed during even the worst rapes and beatings.

Danny, Tom and Harry stared at the TV, blurry through their tears, as the black screen slowly faded and a picture appeared. There were at least 10men onscreen, all huge, like man mountains and all dressed in black.

These intimidating men were surrounding a pale, weak, scarily skinny boy. Dougie. His band mates had never seen him in a worse condition.

Worse than Dougie's ill health however, was what the men surrounding him onscreen were doing. All of them were clutching in their meaty hands various menacing looking thick sticks, hammers, mallets, bricks and an assortment of other nasty looking weapons.

All the men were hitting any part of Dougie they could over and over again, not caring where the blows landed as long as it was a part of Dougie. The Mcfly boys watching could hear Dougie's screams, cruel laughs of the men, sickening crunches as Dougie's bones broke and dull thuds as the weapons connected with the frail bassists skinny frame.

It was truly horrifying and Tom, Danny and Harry knew they'd never lose the visual and sounds memories of their best friend being beaten to within an inch of his life, not as long as they'd live.

Yet there was still worse to come.

After about 10 minutes, although it felt like a lifetime to the boys watching, Dougie's terrifying screams stopped as he fell unconscious after a particularly vicious blow to the head by a metal pole. The men surrounding Dougie stepped back as one and surveyed him for a while. Soon enough, one of the beefier looking men stepped forwards, fiddling with the front of his trousers.

He slapped Dougie round the face until he came back into conciousness. Seeing this, the man quickly flipped the broken boy over onto his front. Tom, Danny and Harry looked on in horror, realisation dawning on their shocked, tear streaked faces as the man onscreen stripped Dougie of his lone item of clothing and violated him roughly over and over again as the men surrounding the duo watched and laughed viciously.

Dougie started screaming again, louder and higher pitched than before, filled with even more pain and terror. Tears started falling even harder down Tom, Danny and Harry's cheeks.

Eventually the man seemed to tire of his sport and stood up again, rearranging himself as he did so. He stood back and surveyed Dougie alongside his fellow captors for a moment.

Then, acting on some unknown signal the men came forwards to the beaten up, raped bassist and kicked him. They kicked him and kicked him, over and over again, till he had fallen unconscious. They carried on regardless, only stopping when they all seemed out of breath and spent.

One by one they left the cell, leaving Dougie alone in the middle of the room, unconscious, violated, every bit of him bruised and broken, inches from death.

Tom, Danny and Harry gaped at the screen as the pitiful, horrifying image faded. The only coherent thought any of them had was that they wished they could've tried harder to get the money and not have had to settle for this terrible, terrible compromise.

They gazed at the screen a little while longer, tears continuing to fall until one of the black clad men in the room with them spoke.

"Our money, if you will gentlemen" it said harshly.

"No finding out where your poor, ickle Dougiekins is until we get the money" the icy voiced man added. Danny shivered and handed over a canvas bag someone from the bank had dropped over the day before.

"It's all there" he whispered "every last dollar."

"Very good" the icy voiced man praised. "Now Douglas I believe has been lovingly dumped outside your recording studios. I'd go now, if you ever want to see that pathetic bassist of yours alive again" Tom, Danny and Harry sprung from their seats.

"Now now boys" the harsher voiced man reprimanded. "We can't let all of you go. Just one will suffice" Danny looked at the others.

"Please. Please let me go" the others saw the desperation in Danny's eyes and nodded. With their confirmation Danny ran from the room and headed out to find his love.

"We're going to leave you now boys. It's been a pleasure doing business with you" the icy voiced man spoke and doffed his imaginary cap. With that, he and his two companions left the house. Harry and Tom were left on their own in silence, staring at the phone on its cradle, hoping that Danny would soon phone with news of Dougie.

Danny drove like a maniac through the rain, not really watching where he was going, just concentrating on getting to their recording studios as quickly as possible without causing a major accident.

Upon arriving outside, luckily in one piece, Danny wrenched open the door of his car and, spotting a pale, huddled mass on the rain soaked floor, sprinted over as fast as he could. Crouching over the skinny, broken frame of his best friend, his soul mate, Danny crooned Dougies name whilst more tears dripped down his nose and onto Dougies torso.

Carefully picking his friend up, he ran back over to his car and laid the unconscious Dougie out on the back seat, securing him in so he wouldn't get hurt any more. He quickly dialled the Mcfly house phone and told Tom to meet him at the nearest hospital. Jumping back into the drivers seat, he drove only a little slower to the hospital.

Abandoning the car outside the entrance to A&E he slung Dougie carefully into his arms and ran in the front entrance and straight up to the desk where a kind blonde nurse was sat.

"Please help" he cried desperately, a dishevelled mess. "Dougie...raped...beaten up...starved for a week...10 men...please" Danny managed to gasp out. The nurse quickly made sense of the garbled words and cried in horror. She shouted for some doctors.

They ran over and one of the male doctors tried to take Dougie from Dannys arms. Dougie seemed to revive a little at this point and cried brokenly:

"No, NO. Need...Danny...men...not good" the doctors looked at each other and then at Danny, stood helplessly with a writhing Dougie in his arms.

"Listen" one of the doctors started. "I don't know what's happened here for this young man to end up in such a state, nor do I care right now. We just need to get him medical attention quickly. Are you a family member?" Danny shook his head numbly.

"You're his cousin now. Right, this way" the doctors quickly strode off and Danny followed. They led the way into a private room and gestured to Danny to lay Dougie on the bed in the middle of the room.

Danny did so and then sat in the chair beside him, loosely holding Dougies fingers. The doctors bustled about him, saying and doing things Dannys brain was too tired to try and understand.  
>The mental relief of having Dougie back, maybe not sound, but definitely safe was too much and he was exhausted.<p>

He slowly felt himself slip into a blackness he couldn't get back out of.  
>When Danny next opened his eyes he immediately registered he was lying on a hard uncomfortable floor and he was staring at Toms converses. He slowly sat up and gazed at the owner of said converses and Harry.<p>

"How's Dougie" he asked sleepily.

"We don't know yet. It's been 6 hours and they haven't told us anything" Tom replied. They all sat in silence, brooding on their own thoughts.

"Friends of Douglas Lee Poynter" was suddenly called, and the three Mcfly members gazed at the door to see a man in a white coat look at them. They all numbly stood up and followed Danny to the door and into another office. The man cleared his throat, ready to speak.

"I'm sure you've realized already, but your friend Douglas has been severely hurt. It was touch and go for a few hours as to whether he'd survive, but he managed to pull through and is in a severe, but stable condition. He's suffered many internal injuries, but we managed to start healing these in the operating theatre. They will continue to heal on their own now. He's also suffered many broken bones, including several in his legs and arms, his ribs, his right collar bone, nose, jaw, ankle, wrist, hip and a slight break in his neck. We've put him in a full body cast to help these all heal, but there is nothing else we can do for them right now. The ones that weren't clean breaks will take slightly longer to heal, but he will survive. He also has severe malnutrition and dehydration, pneumonia, hypothermia…" the doctor carried on listing the extensive injuries Dougie had suffered for a while longer, but Danny had zoned out. He was shocked.

How could one boy suffer this many injuries and live? It was beyond all belief. Danny zoned back in as the doctor started talking about the other issues at hand.

"But from what I've heard and what Mr Fletcher and Mr Judd told one of the other doctors about what Mr Poynter has been through, it is not so much the physical damage we are all worried about, but the psychological damage. Yes, the injuries were life threatening, but they can and will be fixed. He just needs a long hospital stay for those and to stay in bed for a further six months and then use a wheelchair whilst he learns to walk again. But the psychological damage, now that is going to take years we believe. Misters Jones, Fletcher, Judd, are you all prepared for a long journey to help your friend?" the doctor asked, looking at the three Mcfly boys intently.

They all nodded vehemently; wanting to do anything they could in their power to help Dougie get back to normal.

"Very good. I believe Mr Poynter is awake right now, you can go and see him if you wish. He's just down the corridor in room 323." the doctor said with a kind smile. Tom thanked the doctor and led the way out the door, Danny and Harry following behind.

Once out the office the three boys fell on each other, crying and laughing in relief.

"He's going to be alright, he's going to be ALRIGHT" Danny cried happily. The boys drew back and looked at each other. They all looked lighter and happier than they had in days, a weight lifted off their shoulders. They had their Dougie back and now all they needed to do was help him heal. They knew that it was easier said than done, but they would and could do it. They would do anything to help him.

"Guys" a tearful Tom started "Do you reckon we should get the Busted boys in? I mean, it's a lot for just us three to handle and I know they'll help make things better. I would say his mum and sister, but it's probably best not to tell them until he's at least a bit better, she'll just get in a flap and worry and make herself ill" the other three nodded, conviction clear in their eyes and Tom headed out to call their friends.

Danny and Harry looked at each other, then wrapping an arm around each other for comfort headed down the hallway to find their friend.

Standing outside room 323 they both took a deep breath and Danny opened the door. They slipped quietly into the room and gazed at their sick friend. Tears started running down their cheeks as they took in his poor condition.

He looked worse than Danny had imagined, tiny in a bed far too big for his slight frame, casts and bandages covering every visible part of him, the blanket over his legs raised with the bulk of them. Tubes and wires were hooked up to him; leading from various machines and stands to his body. There was a constant beep of a heart monitor and the drips of several IVs. It was nearly as bad as seeing him beat up.

Harry sniffled and Dougie slowly and painfully turned his bandaged head towards the door, only being able to turn it a little way because of the cumbersome neck casts.

When Dougie saw who it was, he let out a hoarse cry and turned his head away again, attempting to curl up into a ball.

Danny and Harry stared at him, tears running harder down their shocked faces at Dougies reaction. Was he not happy to see them? They were hurt and scared.

For his part, Dougie lay there, wanting to curl up in a ball facing the wall away from his friends, but not being able to. He wanted to do this only because he couldn't bear to have them face him anymore, not when they knew what he'd been through and how dirty he was. It was irrational Dougie knew, but he couldn't shake the feeling off.

He wanted to be their friend again, but was sure this was only a pity visit. Why would his friends, as successful and clever and talented as they were, want to be his friend again?

Danny sniffed, dried his tears and hesitantly walked to Dougies bedside. Harry followed a couple steps behind.

"Dougs?" Danny started. Dougie doubled his attempts to turn over. "Dougie, please stop. You're going to hurt yourself" Danny's voice rose desperately as he helplessly watched his friend.

"NO" Dougie cried.

"Why Dougs? Why? Don't you want to be friends with us anymore? We'll understand if you don't, just please tell us the truth. You're our best friend, we love you and we want to help you but we can't if you don't want to face us. Please Dougs, please" Danny's voice broke on the last word and he started crying again.

Dougie stopped writhing on his bed and gazed up at his friend, looking intently into his eyes. Did they want to be his friend again? Dougie still wasn't sure. Danny had said they did, but did he mean it? Dougie didn't know but had to find out. He tried to find the strength in him to talk to his friend.

"But thought…you wouldn't want to be…friends with me…too dirty…broken…don't deserve me…too good for me…love you…but too dirty and horrible" Dougie managed to choke out hoarsely. Danny's heart broke at the boys proclamations.

"You stupid boy Dougie" he said fondly. "We want to help you. We've been out our minds with worry. What you've been through, no one should have to go through. We want to get you better so much, we'll never leave you. We love you Doug" Danny gazed down at the broken boy. Dougie gazed back, more certain that Danny actually meant what he said.

"Love you Dan…Haz…sleepy now" Dougie whispered and Danny stroked the only visible bit of hair he could. Harry carefully held one of Dougies hands.

"You sleep Dougs, we'll be here when you wake up. Toms gonna be here soon and James, Matt and Charlie. We'll see you when you wake up" Danny said soothingly and Dougie let himself drift of into the first proper sleep he'd had in days, feeling more secure in the other Mcfly boys love for him, feeling that maybe, just maybe, they'd always be his friend and he'd get better.

Danny and Harry looked at the boys sleeping form as Tom entered the room.

"They're coming" he simply said as he walked over to Dougies bedside and carefully took the hand Harry wasn't holding. Danny and Harry smiled at his words.

"Everythings going to be fine. It's going to be fine" Danny said happily, still gazing at Dougies figure on the bed in case there was any change in his condition.

"Of course it is" Harry replied, also carefully staring at Dougie.

"Guys, we ought to get some sleep. Dougie's gonna be out for a while and we'll need to be alright and here for him when he wakes up again. It's no good if we're really tired" Tom told them seriously. Danny and Harry nodded.

" 'Kay, but we stay in here. I promised him we'd be here when he woke up" Tom nodded his agreement and the three boys settled themselves around Dougies bed. Once comfortable, they called their good nights and drifted into a happier sleep then they'd had in a week, safe in the knowledge they had their Dougs back and could help him.

The Mcfly boys slept on, smiles on all four faces.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN genuinely hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know I did :D Shall update soooon mon amis :D REVIEWS PLEASE? It truly, honestly, really is the best thing to know what you think of my writing :D Promise_**


	12. Chapter 12

**_A/N YAY QUICK UPDATE! Possibly the shortest chapter ever, it popped into my head during the shocker of a science exam earlier :L Quite lovely though and I do like it. I meant for it to be a lot longer, but this thing controls itself half the time and it decided it wanted to stop on that lovely little point it did :L Took me like no time at all to write either :) Next update should be tomorrow hopefully and longer. A lot longer. I do really like this chapter though. Oo also, the personalities of the Busted boys (and the Mcfly boys) to some extent are how I imagine them and probably not at all like their actual personalities, so if you are a big Busted fan, I apologise if you don't like the way I portray the boys :D  
>As always, reviews are the nicest thing in the world, the best present an author could get, so spare me just a little time for one? I welcome all feedback, constructive criticism is just as good as praise so if you see something I could do betterchange, feel free to tell me, I would love to know where you think I can improve as I know I'm no where near a perfect writer :D Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews so far though, you're all AMAZING :D  
>Disclaimer: Guess what? I still don't own the Mcfly or Busted boys. Shocker, right? ;)<em>**

* * *

><p><em> The Mcfly boys slept on, smiles on all four faces.<em>

"Harold, Daniel, Thomas" the ever cheerful voice of James Bourne broke through the three Mcfly boys peaceful sleep. Danny groaned.

"Ja-ames" Harry moaned, his voice still sleepily.

"Yes Harriet?" James replied, a grin in his voice.

"Shu'up and let me sleep" he groaned.

"Don't you want to talk to your 3 bestest mateys?" Matt Willis chipped in.

"NO" Tom shouted. Suddenly, there was a pained moan from the middle of the bed. Danny was immediately awake and sat bolt upright.

"Dougie?" He asked, a tremble in his voice.

"Huurts...help Danny" the boy pleaded, his voice weak. James immediately turned and ran out the door, shouting for a nurse as he did so. Danny stood up and moved to Dougies bedside again, Harry, Tom, Charlie Simpson and Matt close behind. Danny stroked Dougies hair again.

"Shhhh Dougie, James has gone to get you something. You just lie there and rest now, Harry, Tom, Matt and Charlie are here too" Danny soothed. Dougie started and strained to see the two Busted boys.

"Matt...Charlie...here?" Dougie wondered. The two boys in question moved into Dougies eyeline. Dougie stared at them and they gazed sadly at the slight bassist.

"The very same. Just doing our duty as your other best friends" Matt replied, his voice sounding as though he might cry.

"Love you" Dougie mouthed as the pain in his body started to overtake everything else.

"Love you too Dougs" Charlie replied, gasping in horror as Dougie started to scream.

"HURTS" he shouted and dissolved into wordless screams and tears. The watching boys started crying in shock and terror.

"C'MON JAMES. HURRY THE FRICK UP" Danny shouted desperately as loud as he could, not wanting to see Dougie in pain any longer.

At that moment a whirlwind consisting of James and several doctors burst into the room. The doctors started adjusting machines and wires, adding a couple more drips and shoving the Mcfly and Busted boys out of the way.

They stood at the side of the room, tears streaming harder and harder down their cheeks as they finally comprehended just how bad Dougies condition was and just how hard it was going to be to get him back to normal.

They all felt as though they were at the very bottom of the steepest, longest hill they'd ever seen and they had a hard journey ahead of them to reach the top and Dougie as he used to be.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN Wasn't that just lovely? I dunno why, but I really like this chapter :D Anyhow, update tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest, I love you all readers of the universe :D  
>REVIEWS? Go on, you know you want to ;) <strong>_


	13. Chapter 13

**_A/N YAYA back on track with my lovely, quick updating again this week, it feels goood :D Having a BlackBerry is brilliant as well, can write the chapters on my phone at school and email them to myself, makes it a lot easier to update :L How I adore technology :D WOO FOR TECHNOLOGY!  
>Anyhow, another update, more Busted boys, more moving the story along a lot :D There is a very medically bit in the middle, but kinda had to put it in there to show you lovely lot what's happening with our Dougs, so I am truly VERY sorry if it bores you at all :D This chapter full of loveliness and that is also longer than the last, which is always good :D That last one was stupidly short, but if the chapter wants to end at a certain point, the chapter has to end at that point. Swear my writing has a mind of it's own, I'm just typing the words :L Crazy.<br>MASSIVE THANK YOU again to all my beautiful reviewers, you are what makes writing this story even more amazing :D I LOVE YOU ALL. To those of you reading and not reviewing I have one word. Please?  
>Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Mcfly or Busted, they still own themselves (or each other, you never know :D). I merely own the plot and the lovely doctors :D I like to think of room 323 as my own as well :D<br>Anyhow, enough of my rambles, on with the story. ENJOY! _**

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Danny, Tom, Harry, Matt, Charlie and James stood gazing at the now sleeping peacefully Dougie. It was over an hour since he'd cried for help and he'd just only a few minutes ago stopped crying, completely exhausted. The watching boys were just grateful he wasn't in pain anymore, even though it had taken a while.

They stood there for a while, each boy absorbed in his own thoughts until they were disturbed by someone entering the room.

The Mcfly boys whirled round, paranoid someone was coming to hurt Dougie, as irrational as that thought was. They let out a simultaneous sigh of release as they recognised the kind features of Dougies doctor.

"Hello boys" he smiled "Who are your friends?" Danny quickly made the introductions and explained who the Busted boys were.

"Lovely, lovely. Now, whilst Mr Poynter is still asleep and you have had time to see him, its high time we discussed the long term care Douglas is going to need" The boys nodded.

"Can we talk in here?" Asked Danny anxiously.

"Why of course. Wherever you feel most comfortable" the doctor replied amiably.

"Thank you. Its just, I told Dougie we wouldn't leave him"

"I understand. Now, are you boys prepared to look after Dougie when he is okay to be discharged from hospital?" They all nodded.  
>"Me, Harry, Danny and Dougie live with each other anyway and James, Matt and Charlie practically live round ours, its not going to be difficult to accommodate him" Tom replied confidently.<p>

"Good, that's very good. Makes things a lot easier. Now, young Douglas will have to stay in hospital until we are sure all internal injuries are okay and he is in a good, stable condition and will be able to cope with being moved. That shouldn't be more than a month and then we can transfer him to your house. There, we would like him to stay in bed for another three months as he will most likely still have the full body cast. He will receive weekly therapy to help guide him through the mental trauma. After three months, he should be okay to be moved around the house, carried at first. He will also then receive daily physiotherapy to get his strength back and learn to walk again..." The doctor droned on about Dougies care package. Tom, Harry, James, Matt and Charlie listened intently, but Danny had zoned out again. He gazed over at Dougies sleeping figure and slowly and silently, almost in a trance, began to walk over to him.

He stood beside the sandy haired bassist's bed, the voices of the others fading into the backround, Danny once again finding himself staring at the boy, wondering why it had to be Dougie. Why it had to be Mcfly they picked on. Why they had to hurt Dougie this bad.

There were so many why's floating round Danny's head that they all merged into one big WHY DOUGIE. Without really realising it, Danny starting crying. Big, loud, heart wrenching, heart breaking sobs.

The voices of the others abruptly stopped and they all looked at Danny, who had collapsed onto the floor beside Dougies bed. The remaing Mcfly and Busted boys ran over to him swiftly, kneeling beside him, comforting him, tears of their own falling. The doctor tactfully left the room to let the boys let out their emotions and comfort each other in their own way.

Eventually, they all managed to pull themselves together and pulled apart, still sat on the floor beside Dougies bed, puffy eyed and emotionally drained but somehow, just somehow feeling slightly better. Danny gave a weak laugh.

"I think I've cried more in the past week than I have in my life" he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. The others smiled slightly and nodded.

They all gazed at each other and then started when a pitifully weak voice issued from the bed beside them.

"Guys?" It said. "Guys, where are you? You said you'd never leave me again" the weak voice rose desperately higher and higher, terror beginning to seep back into it. The boys on the floor jumped up into Dougies eyeline and immediately started comforting the broken boy.

At the back of all their minds was the thought that this was their life now, this is what they had to fix, this is what they had to get used to.

It was nearing the end of Dougies month long stay in hospital. Danny, Tom and Harry hadn't left whilst Charlie, James and Matt had literally only gone home to change and get a couple hours sleep.

It had been hard, but they were all glad they had done it. They all felt being with Dougie 24/7 had aided in the slight step along the road to recovery he had made. He was now speaking to them a lot more and his nightmares were a lot less frequent. The physical injuries had also got a lot better. He was still in the full body cast as none of his broken bones had healed yet, but all his internal injuries were pretty much healed and Dougie was a lot less reliant on painkillers. His cumbersome neck brace had been taken off however and he had slightly more movement now.

All of them were just looking forward to the day Dougie could be released from hospital and come home. They were all grateful for the hospitals help, of course they were, but they wanted their Dougs back home, where he belonged.

James, Matt and Charlie bounded into room 323 were the Mcfly boys were, much as they had on the first day.

"Morning boys, rise and shine" called James, jumping onto the double bed Tom, Danny and Harry were sharing. He wriggled around, muffled groans and moans issuing from beneath him.

"James, you've woken us up this way every day for the past month. Surely you're bored of this now?" Tom stated sleepily. James pretended to contemplate this and then shook his head cheerfully.

"NO" he gleefully shouted and redoubled his jumping efforts. The watching Matt and Charlie laughed at their band mate.

"Guuuuys" Dougie moaned from the other side of the room. "Sleeping here" Matt hastened to his bedside and smiled at him. Dougie still couldn't move much and still hated it if there wasn't at least one of them in his eyeline at all times when he was awake. They didn't mind this. If they weren't, Dougie just started to panic and they hated it when Dougie panicked. Dougie also had to sleep with a light on, as darkness and shadows still terrified him and bought back terrible memories.

"Sorry Dougie" Matt said. Dougie smiled up at him.

"S'okay" he said. Charlie now started jumping up and down impatiently in his corner.

"JAMES. MATTHEW. Did you plan on telling the boys the good news or not?" He practically shouted.

"Ah yeah" Matt smiled and James jumped off of Tom, Danny and Harry, prodding them to make them get out of bed.

They all walked over to Dougies bedside and James took a deep breath and smiled. He addressed Dougie.

"Dougs. You're going home today!" The boys all whooped and cheered and Dougie laughed more cheerfully than he had in weeks.

This was the news that they had all been waiting for, the best news they could have got at that moment.

It was the news that meant step 1 on the road to Dougies recovery was complete. Things could only go uphill from here.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I like this one as well :D Next update tomorrow evening most likely, maybe two if you're lucky as I have nothing to do tomorrow evening as I'm not allowed to go to ballet class :/ :L I feel my writings actually improving, s'all good. But as always I want to know what YOU think of this, so REVIEWREVIEWREVIEW. It helps. Honest. If you didn't know already, there's a stonking great review button below. Go on, press it. See what happens...**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N So erm, another chapter! YAY :) I actually don't like this chapter as much as others, did debate whether or not to upload it, did anyway, I'll just wait and see what my lovely readers think :D**_  
><em><strong>All your reviews, as always, have been amazing and I love you all! THANK YOU! To those new to reading, reviews would be brilliant :) Thanks also to those alertingfavouriting this story!**_  
><em><strong>Disclaimer: Like usual, I don't own Mcfly or Busted unfortunately, they own themselves ;)<strong>_  
><em><strong>So now all that's left is to say ENJOY<strong>_

* * *

><p><em><em>After several long, exhausting, mentally and physically hard hours, Dougie and all the equipment he now needed to live life had been transferred to the Mcfly life.

As he was bed bound for several months and didn't want to not be around people, Charlie and James had moved the sofa against the wall in their rather large living room up to Dougies room and James and Tom had installed Dougies new electric bed with sides where the sofa used to be.

His new wheelchair was folded up and stored under the stairs, along with a couple of IV stands and blankets and pillows for whoever was spending the night on the other sofa.

They had decided between them that they would rotate who slept on the sofa, but they knew they needed too as Dougie panicked if one of them wasn't near him at all times.

As the last of the doctors and ambulances drivers and the palava of other people who had overseen Dougies moved leftm, Danny, Tom, Harry, James, Matt and Charlie flopped either on the sofa or on the floor around Dougies bed.

Dougie himself had fallen asleep, completely exhausted.

"Well, wasn't that fun!" Danny exclaimed with a tired sigh.

"Yeah...fun" Tom replied with a smile.

"Wow, if that's your guys idea of fun, remind me to hang out with you more often" Charlie laughed, sarcasm dripping from every word. Danny glared playfully at him.

"Watch it mister. If I wasn't so bloody tired I'd smack you upside the head" he mock-threatened.

"Ooo I'm scared now" Charlie retorted.

"You should be"

"I am"

"Good" Charlie gave up at this moment and settled for waving a rather rude hand gesture in Dannys direction. Danny gasped at this.

"Charles Simpson, that is disgraceful behaviour" he scolded. Just then, a tired moan issued from Dannys bed.

"Now look what you've done, you've gone and woken the sleeping beauty" Charlie told him, mock-disapproval lacing his tone.

"Oh so now it's my fault" Danny exclaimed.

"Er, yea-"

"Guys, shuut up" came Dougies stronger, but still rather weak tone.

"Sorry Dougie" both boys replied.

"Bloody well should be" Dougie said with a grin in his voice.

"How you feeling Sleeping Beauty" Tom chipped in, feeling like this could've gone on for a while.

"Pretty good at the minute actually, those painkillers the doc gave me are bloody brilliant" Dougie replied, sounding better, but sleepier than he had in a while.

"They're also meant to make you really drowsy and have a dreamless sleep, so it's time we left you to get some" Tom told him sternly.

"But one of you is staying here right?" Dougie asked, panic lacing his voice.

"Shhh Dougie, I'm taking sofa duty tonight" came the cheerful, dulcet tones of James. Dougie turned his head and smiled gratefully at the older boy.

"Cheers James" he said.

"No probs. Oi Danny-kins, help an old man make his bed" Danny complied and they began to drag pillows and blankets over to the sofa.

The other boys called their good nights and headed upstairs, Matt and Charlie sharing Dougies room.

************  
>Sometime in the night James was bought out of a peaceful slumber by a single, piercing scream. James immediately jumped out of bed and ran over to the writhing, sweaty, screaming boy on the bed.<p>

"Dougie, Dougie, shhhh, Dougs, its me, James, you're safe here, no ones gonna hurt you" James continued to soothe the screaming bassist, speaking soft words and stroking his hair. Slowly Dougie started to calm down, stopping screaming, tears still running down his face.

Without James or Dougie noticing, one by one the other occupants of the house had stumbled downstairs as Dougies pitiful screams had woken them and were stood in the doorway. As the boy calmed down they moved forward till they were grouped round his bed.

"Dougs, what is it? What happened?" Danny asked, fear very present in his trembling voice.

"It was THEM!" Dougie screamed through his tears. "They came here...they know where we live...I CAN'T STAY HERE ANYMORE" the other boys exchanged worried glances.

"Dougs, they're not coming back. I know they know where we live, but they're not gonna come back now mate" Harry told him, worry in his voice.

"But they know where we live. I can't stay here. They might come back"

The boys continued to try and reason with Dougie for a while, but he wouldn't listen to any of them. He was adamant that his captors were going to come back and get him.

Eventually, out of sheer exhaustion, Dougie fell asleep mid sentance. The others moved away from his bed side and grouped in the middle of the room.

"Guys, if he really feels this way, I suppose we're gonna have to move" Danny said, worrying his bottom lip.

"Yeah. I suppose it's all part of the healing process" Tom added.

"And none of us want Dougie in a place where he doesn't feel settled" Matt finished. The six boys stood there, staring at each other, listening to the quiet sound of Dougies breathing.

"I suppose it's settled then" Harry broke the silence.

"We go house hunting tomorrow" Tom said and all the boys nodded their agreement. As though responding to some silent, unseen signal, everyone called their goodnights again and headed back to bed, or in James' case the sofa.

They all lay in silence, brooding on their thoughts. It was harder than anticipated. None of them thought they might have to move house, but now they thought about it, the more sense it made.

They all lay there, Dougie the only one asleep as the seconds stretched into minutes stretched into hours until the dawn chorus broke into their thoughts. They all started stretching, preparing themselves mentally for the day ahead.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN so hope you enjoyed that, I'm not so sure about this chapter but hey. Hopefully get the next one up tomorrow, should be able to write quite a bit before ballet :) More than usual I would like to hear your thoughts on this chapter and whether it works cause I'm really not sure... So REVIEW! Until next time mon potes, keeping reading :) (there's a cheeky new Harry Potter next gen oneshot I've uploaded, go check it out if you will ;) )**_

_**REVIEW?**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N YAY another update :D Again, not sure how much I like this one, but hey ho, uploaded anyway. Orange-Peel-Pixie in answer to your question, I'm not really sure why I don't like it! I think it's just because I don't feel I wrote it as well, and also my mind has decided it's going to give me writers block and I'm not actually sure what to write and not sure it's good :L Anyway, this chapters really quite short, does move the story on again, nice little filler until my brain decides to give me inspiration to properly move the story on :L Should upload a better chapter over the weekend, shall spend lots of time on one :D  
><strong>__**Reviews, as always would be lovely. To those reviewing, YOU ARE THE MOST AMAZING PEOPLE ALIVE. Those not reviewing, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING? Spare a poor lass a bit of your time, and press that review button :D  
><strong>__**Disclaimer: NOT MINE. And as much as I WISH, they aren't and never will be mine. So there. THEY OWN THEMSELVES AND I CHUCKLE EVERYTIME I WRITE THAT AND I SHOULD PROBABLY MATURE SOME AND STOP LAUGHING EVERYTIME I WRITE MCFLY AND BUSTED OWN THEMSELVES. CHUCKLES. THIS MATURING THING ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN. I SHOULD ALSO STOP WRITING IN CAPITALS. SO AU REVOIR MES AMIS. TILL NEXT TIME. ENJOY!**_

* * *

><p>Danny's head was pounding. He was sat on an uncomfortable chair in the office of yet another estate agent. Danny had never known just how many estate agents there were, nor did he care to find out again.<p>

This house hunting business was doing his head in. If it weren't for the fact they were doing this to make Dougie feel more secure, safe and settled and help him in the healing process Danny would have given up hours ago.

As it was, him, Tom and Harry had visited God knows how many agents, but hadn't found the right house. It was either too big, too small, too pricey, too this, too that.

Danny was exhausted and fed up.

He just wanted to buy the next flaming house they were shown and get the hell out of there. He was missing Dougs. Yes, they'd only been gone several hours, but after the hell Dougie had been put through, just a few minutes away from him made Danny nervous. They'd left James, Matt and Charlie with Dougie, and Danny knew he was safe with them, but being away from him was still making him twitchy and nervous.

Suddenly, a happy shout broke into Danny's thoughts. It was Tom. Danny zoned in again and listened to what Tom was saying.

"…Move in within the week?" he was asking. Danny's head reeled. Did this mean Tom had finally found the property they were looking for?

"Brilliant. Thank you" Tom stretched and stood up. Harry copied him and together they walked out the door. Danny shook his head and ran after them.

"GUYS" He shouted. They stopped and turned around. "Did you find it then?"

"Were you not paying _any _attention Daniel Jones?" Tom asked in disbelief.

"Nope" Danny replied cheerfully. "But anyway, this house?"

"Ah yeah. Well, it's within our budget, got the right amount of bedrooms for us all including James, Matt and Charlie for when they stay, plenty of bathrooms, a couple of living rooms, dining room, games room, an fair sized room with nothing in it which will be perfect for Dougie's physiotherapy, a couple other rooms and a swimming pool" Tom listed cheerfully. Danny's head swam: it had all they wanted and more.

"Bloody hell" Danny breathed. Tom and Harry grinned.

"Now to break the news to our besties" declared Harry and they caught a cab home, smiling the whole way.

Three days later, Danny, Tom, Harry, James, Matt and Charlie found themselves in a whirlwind of boxes and removal men. Dougie had been safely transferred to a local hospital for the day, out the way and asleep.

They worked solidly for the whole day, packing boxes and bags, covering furniture, lifting tables and chair, loading vans. It was hard, physical work and it was what they all needed.

Eventually, everything had been transferred from the old Mcfly Mansion to the new, Tom had gone round the old house and said goodbye, as only Tom would and Danny had picked up Dougie.

They were all collapsed in one of the new living rooms turned Dougie's room/room-where-they-would-spend-most-days.

"Phew!" breathed James with a massive sigh. Dougie laughed.

"Sounds like you've been busy" he said with a smile in his voice.

"Too bloody right" Matt gasped.

"Yeah, while Little Lord Fauntleroy in the corner over there slept the whole bloody day" Danny groaned.

"Sounds about right. I could get used to this" They all laughed and lapsed into a comfortable silence, all lost in their own thoughts.

It had been a hard couple of months. The last few days had been some of the hardest, just seeing how weak and ill Dougs was. The amount of medicines and things he had to take and do each day was incredible and it broke everyone's heart. They just wanted to see Dougie happy and healthy again.

The nightmares he'd been having were horrible as well. Every night since coming home he'd had the same one, and every night he woke everyone up screaming he wasn't safe and that they were coming for him. Each night it had taken longer and longer to calm him down. The previous night it had taken him a good couple hours.

They passed the rest of the day just hanging out in Dougie's room, talking, laughing, watching movies, playing xbox, eating and just settling into the new house. Eventually Dougie fell asleep, exhausted. The other boys tucked him up and made him comfortable and took it as their cue to leave Dougie to sleep and start sorting out the rest of the house.

Boxes and boxes of stuff lay everywhere. The furniture was all pretty much in the right place, it was just a case of placing all the odds and ends where they belong and unpacking their clothes and other possessions. They looked at each other, took deep breaths and silently set too.

Several long hours later, all the boxes were unpacked and stacked by the front door and everything was in it's place. It was starting to feel more like theirs.

They all made their way to their bedrooms, Danny back to Dougies and almost immediately fell asleep, mentally and physically exhausted, all hoping Dougie would sleep the night through.

Alas, it was not meant to be.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN hope you enjoyed :D  
>Oo before I forget, I've uploaded ANOTHER FIC YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN. ACTUALLY INTERESTED IN THIS TIME. IT'S ANOTHER MCFLY ONE, A ONESHOT THIS TIME AND I'M REALLYREALLY PROUD OF IT. GO HAVE A LOOKY, IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU'LL LIKE THE ONE SHOT. IT'S CALLED TOGETHER AGAIN AND IT'S FILLED WITH ANGST AND TEARS AND FEELINGS AND TEARS AND HURT AND THINGS LIKE THAT. PROMISE YOU'LL LOVE IT !<br>REVIEW? PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE WITH CAKE AND CHERRIES AND SPRINKLES ON TOP :D  
>(I REALLY LIKE WRITING IN CAPITALS, DON'T EVEN KNOW. STOPPING NOW. PROMISE!)<em>**

**_LOVE YOU ALL. REVIEW :D _**


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N Lovely, darling, adorable, amazing readers please accept my humblest, sincerest apologies for abandoning you for so long and then only being able to write a short chappie. However, as I said before my writing has a mind of its own most of the time and it said it wanted to stop there, so it did. I have no excuses for abandoning you for so long really. The only thing I've got is that I was away on a crappy geography trip for the first three days of the week, but for Wednesday evening, Thursday, Friday and Saturday I have nothing but that I'm sorry and I hope this makes up for it. I'm also on half term now (YAY HOLIDAYS) so I should be writing quite a bit, hopefully everyday around the MOUNTAIN of homework my teachers have given me. I hate year11 :L  
><strong>__**Anyhow, YAY NEW CHAPTER. I think this ones alright, moves the story on quite a lot, more things happening and all that wotsits (mmm wotsits. STOP GETTING SIDETRACKED. I'm really sorry about my ramblings). More angst and that happens in that chapter.  
><strong>__**Ooo, on another, shameless plugging note, I HAVE ANOTHER MCFLY ONESHOT (YES I'M WRITING IN CAPITALS AGAIN BECAUSE IT AMUSES ME). IT'S ANOTHER REALLY QUITE DEPRESSING TEARJERKER AS I READ TOO MANY TRAGEDY FANFICS THIS MORNING AND IT PUT ME IN A REALLY DEPRESSED MOOD, SO I WROTE ANOTHER ONE. I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT THOUGH, YOU WILL TOO. IT'S ANOTHER PONES (YAY PONES) AND IT NEEDS TISSUES AT THE READY. I CRIED AT ANY RATE.  
>RIGHT I'LL STOP RAMBLING ON NOW. REVIEW PLEASE WHEN YOU'VE READ?MUCH LOVE IN ADVANCE.<br>DISCLAIMER:NOT MINE. I KNOW, I SHOCKED YOU ALL THERE. IF ONLY THEY WERE MINE...THE THINGS I'D DO WITH DOUGIE...LIKE EAT CAKE, MINDS OUTTA THE GUTTER PEOPLE.  
>ENJOYS :D <strong>_

* * *

><p><em><em>The boys in the mansion slept soundly and peacefully for a few hours, none of them dreaming. Not even Dougie.

Suddenly though, the air was wrenched apart by a blood curdling scream. It was Dougie. Danny awoke immediately and ran to the younger boys bedside. He gazed down at the thrashing, screaming body in despair.

"Dougs, what is it?" He sobbed helplessly, stroking Dougies hair in an attempt to calm the slight boy down. Dougie didn't reply, just carried on screaming and crying in pain. As Danny felt the bare skin of Dougies forehead he stopped, fear filling him anew.

"Dougs" he started, his voice trembling. "Dougs, your forehead is really hot. Dougs please speak to me" as Danny talked his voice rose desperately, until he was nearly shouting. Toms voice broke through his fear filled brain.

"Danny, Danny what's wrong with Dougs" asked Matt, terror filling his voice.

"I-I don't know" cried Danny, his voice breaking on the last word. "He just, he's burning up and he won't stop crying and I don't know what's wrong" Charlie immediately pulled out his phone from his boxers and dialled 999. James looked at him in disbelief.

"Won't even ask why he keeps his phone in his boxers" he muttered. "Never bloody using it again, don't know where that trouser snake has been" He walked over to Dougie, still shaking his head at Charlie. He took the still sobbing boys hand and squeezed. "Its gonna be okay Dougs. We'll get help and you'll be fine again" he whispered, gazing intently into the sandy haired boys almost unseeing blue eyes. Beside him Tom, Danny, Harry and Matt nodded vehemently.

"Everythings gonna be fine Dougs" Danny breathed as the paramedics burst into the room and started working on Dougie. They were shouting things none of the boys in the room could've had any hope of understanding, but they knew it was bad. Bad enough that they now had to take Dougie back to the hospital. All six boys gazed after Dougie as the paramedics loaded him onto a stretcher and whisked him away. Then they fell to the ground, each sobbing and crying for the broken boy. Before they'd been so sure they were going to fix him, but now they weren't so sure.

He was just so broken.

Pulling themselves together again, they stood up and gazed at each other with red, puffy eyes. All it took was one word from Tom to break them again.

"Dougs" he whispered and they all collapsed on each other, sobbing the tears they didn't even know they had left.

After a few minutes Matt pulled himself together again.

"Come on guys. We need to get to the hospital and see how Dougs is doing. We can't just stay here and cry all day" the rest of the boys nodded silently and they filed out of the room to two of the cars parked on the driveway. Tom drove one with Danny and Harry in it, Matt drove the other with his bandmates. They made their way to the hospital in silence, each dreading what they would face when they got there.

They ran through the hospital doors and beelined for the front desk. A pretty blonde asked them if she could help, looking slightly alarmed at the worried faces of the famous Mcfly and Busted boys.

"Please" gasped Tom. "Its Dougie, our friend. He was bought in here not long ago. We need to know what's wrong and where he is"

"Let me just find out where he is" the blonde replied smoothly and professionally, hiding her shock at the appearance of the well known boys. She made a few phonecalls and smiled at the boys. "He's on the fourth floor. I can't let you see him yet as he's still receiving medical care, however I can take you to the waiting room nearest where he is"

"Please" Matt whispered.

"Of course. Follow me" the woman replied, stepping out from behind the desk, her heart breaking for the six boys. They walked quickly to the waiting room and the pretty blonde opened the door for them and ushered them in. As they sat down she turned back to them.

"I just want to let you know, I'm a big fan of both your bands and I'm so sorry for what's happened. If you need anything, anything at all just ask for Saskia at reception and I'll do my best to help you" she told them in a heartfelt manner, dropping the professional tone for a minute.

"Thank you Saskia" Tom replied, smiling slightly at her. She smiled back and left the room.

The Mcfly and Busted boys settled themselves in chairs, tears running down their faces. They were preparing themselves for a long wait, each lost in their own thoughts.

Soon, the door opened again. It was the doctor. Judging by the look on his face, it wouldn't be good news.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN OOOO CLIFFIE. Right, I'll stop writing in capitals now._**

**_PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING, I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER (woops, stop now)  
>I neeeeed your help as my beautiful, talented, loyal readers. I'm not sure where to go with this. I have two possible routes planned out possibly, but I need your advice as the readers of my ramblings. Shall I, or shall I not, kill Dougie off? I'm in that mood where I feel like killing him off, but I'm really not sure. Just a kill Dougie, or a NOOO DONT KILL HIM in the review would do nicely for me deciding what to do :D I will love you forever and ever if you do :D<em>**

**_Righty ho, reviews with your suggestions now please people. I'm begging you here. OOO also, we're on 40 reviews now :D WOOO never ever thought I'd get this many with my first fic, I love you all._**

**_NOW REVIEW WITH WHETHER YOU WANT ME TO KILL DOUGLAS LEE POYNTER OR NOT WHILST I GO UPLOAD MY NEW PONES ONESHOT :D YAY ME. _**


	17. Chapter 17

_**A/N YAY quick update :D Thanks for all your reviews, helped me make the right decision. Dougie is not going to die. WOO. I didn't want him to originally, I was just in the crappiest mood yesterday. You're quite lucky I didn't kill them all off :L Anyway, I wrote that other depressing oneshot yesterday and vented my depressed, need to kill someone in there :D Then I listened to Hakuna Matata (which I know all the words to :D), read your reviews and realised how much I needed to keep Dougie in the story, otherwise I'd completely ruin it. So thank you :D  
>Anyway, wrote this on Dartmoor when we were having a long crappy, cold walk. Was just admiring the depressing view when this struck and wouldn't let me alone till I wrote it, so this chapter (which is actually technically two chapters, but whatever) was written with numb hands on my BlackBerry whilst I was sat on a rock crying. People walking past looked at me like I was a freak. Ah the things I do for my readers ;) Anyway, yes this is technically two chapters, I'm just too lazy to do it as two so I put them together into one nice long chappie :D So technically you are getting two lovely updates today :D Depending on how I feel, I might even do another one :L But you'll most likely have to wait till tomorrow :D<br>I'm rambling on, but whatever. This is very Danny orientated to start with, then we get them all back again. Lots of tears, lots of angst, lots of feelings, lots of Pones...it's a recipe for a good chappie :D I hope you enjoy, first chapter in a while I'm proud of :D  
>Disclaimer: I don't own Mcfly or Busted, as much as I'd love to. I just wickedly manipulate them in my stories for my own gain :D YAYA<br>Soo this has turned out longer than expected. Thank you to all my reviewers, I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Now..enjooy mon potes :D **_

* * *

><p><em><em>"Boys, I'm assuming you're here with Douglas Poynter" the doctor asked kindly. The six boys nodded numbly. "Good. I'm Dr Herdman. I'm sorry to have to inform you that your friend is suffering from a severe virus. We've put him in a medically induced coma so he isn't suffering or moving about and making his other injuries worse but other than that, there isn't a lot we can do. We just have to watch over him and let the virus run its course" Danny looked at the man in shock.

Dougie had a virus. After all he went through and all he's already suffered, he goes and gets a virus. Life's a bitch Danny thought bitterly. The doctor started speaking again.

"If you wish we can arrange for you boys to stay in the hospital with your friend?" He was asking. Tom nodded and started talking arrangements with the man, Harry, Matt, James and Charlie listening intently to everything the doctor and Tom were discussing. Danny had zoned out again.

A virus. Dougie had a facking virus. Danny shook his head. Dougs had been recovering so well and now this happens. It was a major setback for the bassist and Danny hated it. Now Dougs was spending time in a coma suffering with some stupid virus when he should've been at home starting to properly recover with his friends bedside him. Not some god awful doctors in this god awful place.

Suddenly something in Danny snapped and he couldn't take it anymore. He stood up and punched a wall in his anger. The others head swivelled round quickly to stare at him in shock. Danny heard someone ask him what he was doing but he didn't care. He quickly opened the door and ran.

Ran out of the room. Out of the hospital, passing countless of sick and dying people as he went. He ran away from the hospital, away from the place Dougie should never have to visit again. He ran, regardless of the rain pouring down on him. Regardless of the thunder storm threatening to strike at any minute.

He ran to get away. He ran to forget. He ran until his lungs were burning and his limbs were like jelly. And then he sank to the floor. Sobbing and sobbing as though he'd never sobbed before and would never sob again. He cried for Dougie, he cried for everything crap in life and as much as he hated to admit it, he cried for himself.

Danny cried for what felt like hours, curled up in a ball on the concrete pavement of who knows where, the cold rain pouring down on him harder and harder, soaking him to the bone. Eventually, a clap of thunder broke through Danny's thoughts. His sobs hitched in his throat as he slowly stood up and took stock of his surroundings.

Danny was sat on the pavement, curled up against the wall of their recording studios. Danny nearly laughed in disbelief, but ended up crying again. He'd realised he was sat almost exactly in the same place Dougie had been left by the kidnappers. He must've instinctively ran there, without thinking.

"Danny?" A quiet voice broke through the rain and shadows.

"Tom?" Danny replied, not wanting to believe it was his best friend and bandmate.

"Oh Danny, we didn't know what to think. I thought you might've gone and done something stupid...Oh Danny" Tom cried and fell on the soaking, shaking boy.

"Tom, how the fuck did you know I'd be here?" Danny asked confused.

"Dunno Danny. Just guessed" Tom replied, a weak smile in his voice.

"I'm glad you did Tom. I'm really sorry, I just couldn't take it anymore" Danny clutched at Tom as though the blonde boy was his lifeline.

"I know Danny. I don't blame you. You love him, don't you?" Tom asked sadly. Danny gasped and sat up.

"How-how did you know" he asked, shocked and terrified.

"Just guessed again Danny. It became more obvious when you ran away. But I've thought you might for a while" the boy replied, gazing intently into Danny's eye. Danny gave up at that moment and slumped against Tom.

"Yes, yes I do. I love Dougie with all my heart. I just wish he'd feel the same way" Danny cried, not caring who heard him. Tom could do nothing but hold the trembling, crying boy and murmur sweet nothings in his ear.

"Oh Danny. It will be okay. Everything will be okay in the end"

The two boys sat there on the cold pavement, thunder ripping the air apart at intervals, rain tipping down on them, just holding each other and crying. Crying for Dougie. Crying for everything they'd lost. Crying for themselves.

Back at the hospital Harry, Matt, James and Charlie were not only worried for Dougie but also Danny and his mental well being.

"What if he goes and does something stupid" Matt cried, worrying his bottom lip.

"Tom will find him before he does" Harry replied, trying to sound more confident than he felt. The boys lapsed into silence, each gazing at the slight boy in the bed.

Dougie was still in his full body cast, so looked a lot bigger than he was, but still managed to look too small for the bed he was in. Various tubes and wires led from nasty looking machines and IV stands to his body and a heart monitor kept a constant beep ringing through the room. At the centre of all the medical palava was Dougie himself, a fever flush in his cheeks, looking to the world as though he was sleeping. It was horrible for the four boys to see Dougie like this again. They'd hoped when they'd taken him home from the hospital they never would. But there they were, and there he was.

Suddenly, Tom and Danny stumbled through the door, Tom supporting Danny. The four boys in the room let out a cheer of complete joy and ran over to hug their friends. Danny was soaked, shivering and still sobbing, but he was safe. And that was all that mattered to the boys.

"Danny we were so worried" Harry choked out through his sobs.

"I'm sorry guys, I just didn't know what else to do" Danny whispered sadly.

"Don't do it to us again Danny, please" James pleaded.

"I won't. I promise. Where's Dougs" he asked. Tom looked at him sadly and Matt pointed towards the bed at the other end of the room. Danny slowly disentangled himself from his friends and walked over to Dougies bedside, Tom following close behind. They stopped and gazed sadly down at the ill boy.

"Oh Dougs" Danny sighed, stroking the bassists burning forehead. Tom just sobbed harder, the tears spotting the white blanket covering Dougie. "What's his temperature?" Danny added, asking the room at large.

"Erm, 39 degrees" Charlie told him. Danny started crying harder, realising just how ill his friend was.

"This isn't fair, Dougie doesn't deserve this" Danny sobbed. His friends moved over to him again and they shared a group hug, taking strength from just being next to each other and having each other.

"We know Danny, we know" Tom said soothingly and the boys stood there for a while longer, comforted by each others presence.

Eventually, the doctor came in the room and broke up the group. He smiled when he saw Danny back with them.

"Nice to see you back Mr Jones. I trust you're feeling better?"

"Yes thank you Dr Herdman" the doctor smiled back at him again and moved over to Dougies bedside. As the boys watched on he took the bassists temperature. As he did so, his face dropped and took on a very serious look.

"Dr, what is it?" Danny asked, fear very much present in his voice.

"His temperature risen again. Its 40 degrees now. If it rises any more I'm not sure he'll make it. The virus is taking over his body" all six boys stared at the doctor.

"NO" Harry shouted desperately.

"He will make it, Dougs is strong. He will pull through. He has to pull through" Danny chanted in a trembling voice. Tom merely sank to the floor and put his head in his hands. Matt and Charlie had slumped against the wall and James was sobbing.

"I'm sorry boys" the doctor simply said and left the boys to their grief.

"He will pull through" Danny said again and moved over to stand at Dougies bedside. He knelt down and took one of the boys cold hands in his own. Stroking Dougies sandy hair back from his burning forehead Danny sobbed again. He didn't even know he had any tears left to sob, with the amount he'd cried that day.

"Please Doug, if you can hear me you have to pull through. You're strong, you have to get better. Maybe it's selfish of me but I can't live in world without your smile to brighten it. Please Dougs. I love you. You have to get better. Please" Danny pleaded to Dougie in a broken whisper and then broke down again. Through his muddled brain he heard the others come to the bedside and each make their own pleas for Dougie to get better.

Danny felt suddenly a bit more hopeful, though he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was because all the boys were pleading with Dougie and there was a hope he would hear them and pull through if he knew how much all his friends wanted it. Danny wasn't sure, but he did know he was exhausted.

He moved over the chair beside Dougies bed, clasped Dougs hand again and drifted into a welcome blackness.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN YAYA hope you enjoyed :D_**

**_Shall update tomorrow most likely now._**

**_Soooo erm, REVIEW?_**


	18. Chapter 18

**_A/N YAY update. Sorry, I meant to write and post this yesterday but I had the most horrible case of writers block on this fanfic and just couldn't. Never fear though, inspiration stuck me tonight :D_**

**_Quite like this chapter I suppose, it's quite happy compared to others :L God knows we're long overdue for a happier chapter. _**

**_Thank you once again to all those who have reviewed. I also got round to looking at the story stat wotsits, and I was truly shocked and amazed. This fic has had more visitors and wotsits than I'd ever imagined, thank you all so much. My other fics have as well, I'm really astonished. All of you favouriting my fics as well, it's insane. THANK YOU GUYS I LOVE YOU ALL._**

**_Disclaimer: Not mine. They would be, but apparently kidnappings illegal. Damn laws._**

**_ENJOY!_**

* * *

><p>The days passed in a worried blur for Danny. He spent each waking hour at Dougies bedside, clutching Dougies unresponsive hand, hoping that the slight boy would be okay. The other boys spent their time sat around his bed too, but they tended to sit at the foot end and talk their way through the days. Danny didn't want to talk, couldn't talk. He just wanted to watch his angel sleep peacefully through the fever and pain the virus was causing him. Danny couldn't take his eyes off of Dougie in case something went wrong. And Danny was fearful, aware that at any moment something could go wrong and Dougie would be taken away from him forever.<p>

Danny didn't know what he'd do if Dougie was torn away from him, and at the tender age of just sixteen. Danny started to cry again, hating himself mentally for this weakness. Danny never thought he'd cry this much, ever. But Dougie was so young, and had been through so much. This just wasn't fair on him anymore. Danny clenched his fist. He _hated _it. He wanted more than anything to take Dougies place, to be the one suffering. Hell, he wished he could reverse time and make this not happen, this whole horrible, painful ordeal.

But he couldn't. All Danny could do was watch over Dougie and hope the bassist wouldn't leave him, would be able to pull through.

Harry noticed Danny's obvious distress.

"Danny, are you okay?" the drummer asked cautiously, reaching his arms out to his friend.

"NO. I'm not. This isn't fair, Dougies only sixteen, he shouldn't have to go through this. I HATE IT" Danny cried, letting Dougies hand go and falling into Harry's embrace. Danny sobbed against his friends muscular chest. Harry made soothing noises and stroked Danny's hair, looking fearfully towards the other boys in the room, distress in his eyes.

"Shh Danny, Dougs will be okay. He's a fighter, he's strong, he will pull through" Tom comforted, moving round to sit next to Danny and Harry, sounding more convinced than he felt. Truthfully, Tom wasn't sure whether the boy would pull through or not. Dougies body had been through so much already, he wasn't sure whether it would be able to take any more.

"Yeah. Dougie wouldn't leave us like this" Matt added, looking at Danny with tears in his eyes. Charlie and James murmured their agreement. Slowly, carefully Danny sat back up and smiled weakly at his friends.

"Sorry guys. I don't mean to be like this, especially when Dougies so ill, but it's hard. Harder than I thought it would be. And I'm so worried" Danny told them shakily.

"Don't be sorry Danny. This is hard for us all. It's fine to cry, we've all been through a lot in the past months. But things will get better" Tom said, staring intently at Danny. Danny smiled back at Tom, his smile stronger this time.

"Yeah, they will" Danny said, more to himself than the others.

The days passed in much the same way, Dougies condition staying stable. Eventually though, mid way through the third week, a doctor came into the room, a smile on his face. Charlie noticed his smile.

"What is it Dr Herdman?" he asked eagerly, hoping and praying for some good news. God knows they all needed it. The others boys noticed Charlie's tone of voice and turned to face the doctor, questioning expressions present on each face.

"It's good news boys. Dougies temperature has come down to 37.8 degrees. He's pretty much over the virus now. He'll be able to come home as soon as we've taken him off of the sedative and he's woken up. It won't be long now" Danny stared at the doctor, shocked at this sudden change of events. James and Charlie cheered and the others fell into a group hug.

"Wh-what? You're sure?" asked Danny through his shock.

"100% sure Mr Jones. The machines don't lie" the doctor replied, enjoying the boys reactions to the news. This was the best bit of his job, telling people that their loved ones were going to be okay. Danny got up and ran to the doctor and hugged him.

"Thank you, thank you so much" Danny crooned through his happy tears, overjoyed that Dougie was going to be okay. Dr Herdman briefly hugged the boy back and Danny stepped away, his eyes bright.

"No problem. We're glad we were able to make him better" the doctor said and with one last smile left the room and the boys to revel in the good news. Charlie, James, Tom, Harry and Matt ran over to Danny, joyful tears running down all of their cheeks, yelling and cheering hoarsely.

"He's going to be okay" Harry shouted happily.

"We're gonna get our Dougs back again" Tom smiled.

"And this time we're gonna keep him and make him better" James said, his tone steely. The other boys nodded their agreement.

"We're gonna go home, follow all instructions to the letter and soon our Dougs will be back to normal!" declared Danny. They all cheered and then walked back over to Dougies bedside.

"Hey Dougs, you hear that? You're coming home with us, soon as you wake up" Charlie told him cheerfully.

"So you wake up as soon as you can now Dougs" Danny added.

"Yeah, or I'm gonna kick your skinny arse into next week" Matt mock threatened. The others glared at Matt.

"Erm, Matty boy, not so sure kicking Dougie into next week is going to help" Tom told him, laughing. Matt laughed back, and then they all dissolved into hysterical laughter, enjoying being able to laugh. There had been so little to laugh at over the past months, it was so nice to be able to laugh again.

A weak moan issued from the bed and broke up the laughing fits. They stared at Dougies figure.

"Dougs?" Danny asked apprehensively.

"Danny? Danny is that you?" Dougies weak voice spoke the delicious words, like nectar and ambrosia to Danny's ears.

"Oh Dougs, you've woken up sooner than we expected. But you're alive and you're safe and oh Dougs, you had us so worried" Danny told him in one breath.

"Sorry. What happened?" Dougie croaked.

"You developed a virus Dougs. We thought you weren't gonna make it, we were so worried" he was told by Tom this time.

"Wow" Dougie breathed. "I can't even remember what happened. I just remember moving house and then falling asleep. How long have I been out?" he asked slowly.

"Er, around three weeks now Dougs" Harry told him sadly. Dougie stared at them in disbelief.

"Bloody hell" he breathed simply.

"Yeah, bloody hell just about sums it up" smiled Danny.

"You have such a way with words you two" James said cheekily.

"Shut up Jamesie" Dougie bantered back. The boys sat there for a while longer, updating Dougie with everything that had gone on, just enjoying being back together and knowing Dougie would be okay. Eventually, the doctor came in and interrupted the boys.

"Hello Mr Poynter, nice to see you back in the land of the living" he smiled.

"It's nice to be back" Dougie replied weakly, exhausted from the effort of talking to his friends.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked, concern laced in his voice.

"Knackered and completely exhausted. But better than I have for a while. Being knocked out for three weeks does wonders for you" Dougie told the doctor, a hint of his old cheek evident in his voice. Danny smiled widely at this, seeing the Dougie he wanted back come through into this new Dougie.

"Glad to hear it. I'm sure you'll also be happy to hear you can lose the full body cast. Your bones are healing nicely now. You just need to stay in bed for a while longer and keep the leg and the right arm cast on" the doctor smiled again as Dougie took in this news.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief.

"Really. Now I believe your friends here are eager to get you home, so let's arrange that now, shall we?" the doctor said and Dougie nodded.

"Let's do this" he said with conviction in his voice and the Mcfly and Busted boys stood up.

"Let's do this" they echoed and set to, busying themselves with getting Dougie home and safe.

Once home, they once again found themselves collapsed on the various sofas, chairs and floor in Dougies room, whilst Dougie himself reclined on his own bed.

"Thank you guys, for always been there for me" Dougie said sleepily, gratitude in his voice.

"No problem Dougs. Anytime. Now you get some sleep, we'll be here tomorrow?" Danny told him and Dougs nodded his consent.

"Night guys. Love you" he said quietly and slipped into a deep peaceful sleep.

"Night Dougs. Love you too" the boys said back and then let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

"It's so nice to have him home" breathed Tom happily.

"So glad he's safe and getting better" Danny added sleepily.

"You sound knackered Dan. We could all do with getting some sleep though" Harry said sensibly.

"Yeah. But let's all stay down here tonight, just in case something else happens" Danny said slowly. The others muttered yeses, and okays, and settled down on sofas and chairs for the night.

Harry and Tom curled up on the sofa nearest Dougie, Tom spread out and Harry with his head pillowed on Toms chest. Danny lay on the reclining armchair next to Dougs bedside, Dougies hand clapsed in his own. Matt, Charlie and James took over the other sofa, cuddled up together, James in the middle with his arms around his friend. Charlie had his head on James' chest and Matt snuggled into James' armpit. Dougie slept peacefully on his bed and the seven friends were happier than they had been for a long time.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN hope you enjoyed :D**_

_**As always, reviews would be the bestest thing ever. REVIEWS ARE LOVE. LOVE IS INSPIRATION. INSPIRATION IS UPDATES. YAYA**_

**_On another, shameless plugging, sidenote, I was in a really depressed Valentines Day mood yesterday, so wrote a depressed, Mcfly PONES song fic/oneshot. Go and have a read? I'm quite proud of it, I really like it. It's called My Immortal and set to My Immortal by Evanescence. Such a beautiful song._**

**_LOVEYOU ALL._**


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N YAYA NEW CHAPTER! Sorry it took so long, been quite busy over the past few days. Hey ho, hope this makes up for it.**_

_**This is a bit of a filler chapter, nothing much happens just a load of feelings and stuff. Not sure the ending of this chapter works, but I need to decide where to go with it next. Any suggestions, feel free to pop 'em in a review.**_

_**As always, I absolutely love all of my reviewers. You guys give me the inspiration and confidence to write this!**_

___**ENJOY!**_

* * *

><p><em><em>Danny woke up with a big smile dominating the northerners face. He felt happier and more rested than he had in months and just lay on the recliner for a few minutes, savouring the moment and the feel of Dougie's smaller hand clasped in his own. It couldn't last forever though. Not when you're sharing a room, or living room, with the Busted and Mcfly boys.

The sound of an acoustic guitar filled the sun drenched room. It carried on for a few moments before the usually tuneful, but not so much this time, voices of James, Matt, Charlie and Tom joined in, accompanied by the never tuneful voice of Harry. They sang louder and louder, getting closer to where a groaning Danny and sleeping Dougie lay.

"Shut the fack up guys" Danny moaned as he let go of Dougies hand and sat up, trying to glare at the five boys but more squinting.

"Ahh Daniel, you love it when we serenade you" James told him, nearly keeling over with laughter.

"Not this bloody early in the morning. How you guys ever made into bands as singers I'll never know" Danny groaned, slumping back against the armchair.

"Yeah, you're all crap singers. I think I should take over as lead" the hoarse tones of Dougie came from the bed. This woke Danny up and he immediately sat upright, eyes scanning Dougie carefully to gage how he was. The others boys shut up and came closer to Dougies bed.

"Morning sunshine" Tom said cheerfully.

"Don't you sunshine me, sunshine. I need my beauty sleep and your bloody racket woke me up. Might as well quit the band now, we'll never make another record if your voice is that crap" Dougie groaned, mock threatening.

"Hey!" Tom cried indignantly. "It wasn't that bad was it?"

"Yes Thomas. Yes it was. I have no choice now. I'm sorry" Charlie said seriously and glanced at Matt and James. They looked at him with understanding in their eyes. Tom looked between the three of him, fear dawning on his face. He started backing away towards the door.

"Erm, what exactly are you gonna be sorry for?" he asked, apprehension in his voice as he got closer to the door. Charlie spotted this.

"Harry" he said simply to the drummer. Harry nodded back.

"On it" he said as he swiftly moved in front of the door, blocking Tom's escape route. Danny looked on as he understood what they were about to do. Tom stood trapped in the middle of the room, his face confused.

"Hang on a sec" Danny cried and five faces looked at him questioningly. "Let me just help Dougs sit up. He should be able to now the full body casts gone, I asked the doctor about it yesterday and I don't think he wants to be missing this"

"Missing what?" Dougie asked confused, as the other boys nodded their consent and Danny stood up next to the slight boy. Danny bent over him and started to pick him up carefully, trying not to jostle any of the casts or bandages still covering the boy.

"Tom's arse getting kicked by Matt, James and Charlie with pillows" Danny breathed in Dougies ear. Dougie smiled delightedly as he understood.

"Brilliant" he breathed. "Now help me up" Danny arranged the cushions behind Dougie and helped the younger boy sit up in a comfortable position. Danny nodded at Matt, James and Charlie and they smiled wickedly. They started to advance on Tom and he backed away, looking slightly scared.

"Now Thomas. We can't let such bad singing slide without some form of punishment now can we?" Charlie told him, staring at the other boy with a mischievous glint in his eye. Matt and James separated from Charlie and moved to the other side of the room, gathering weapons. Charlie backed Tom into a corner.

"Hey, this isn't fair. Your singing was crap as well" Tom pointed out, starting to smile.

"Yes Tom. But it's not so bad when you're us. You're the brilliant Thomas Fletcher. You singing badly is like Lady Gaga being a normal person. It shouldn't happen" James told him, starting to prowl back to the corner where Tom was trapped. Charlie nodded his agreement serenely.

"NOW!" Matt suddenly cried. He chucked a couple of pillows over to Charlie who promptly started to beat Tom around the head with them. James joined in and Matt ran over and tackled Tom to the floor. He sat on his head and beat him with his two pillows.

The pillow fight raged on, neither Tom nor the Busted boys seeming to get the upper hand. They were laughing and shouting, enjoying being them and doing what they used to do. Danny was watching them from his spot on his armchair, nearly wetting himself with laughter.

They were all having such a good time and laughing so much, none of them noticed Dougie, who was trying to curl up on his bed, sobbing his eyes out once again.

Eventually, as the Battle of the Living Room seemed to be drawing to a close, Danny glanced over at Dougie to see his reaction to the epic fight. When he took in the younger boys shaking, sobbing frame his whole world seemed to stop and crash down around him again. He sat, staring at the bassist in terror.

"Dougs, Dougs, what's wrong?" he managed to cry out, his voice scared and cracking. The fearful, desperate tone of it broke through the other boy's concentration. They stared at Danny and Dougie, not understanding.

"Danny, what's happened?" Tom asked in terror.

"It's Dougs. He's crying and I don't know why" Danny said in a broken whisper. Tom, Harry, Matt, James and Charlie ran over to Dougie's bed and Danny immediately, eyes wide in fear.

"Dougie, why are you crying" asked Tom, his voice rising higher in desperation. Dougie stopped his futile efforts to curl up in a ball and stared up at the blonde boy through his tears.

"I'm so sorry" Dougie breathed in a cracked, broken voice. "So sorry"

"Dougs, stop apologising" Tom told him, his gaze searching Dougie's face for some clue as to why the younger boy was crying. All he found was utter pain and fear. Tom started to cry as well, hating himself for showing this weakness when he should be strong for Dougie, trying to find out why the boy is crying and attempting to make it better.

"Dougs, please tell us whats wrong" Danny pleaded, his voice desperate. "All we want to do is help" he told him, taking one of Dougies hands and grasping it tightly, trying to give him some bit comfort.

"I'm so sorry" Dougie apologised again. "It's just, it's the pillow fight. You beating Tom up, it just reminded me of what happened and it was horrible. Those men…I can't even explain it. I'm so sorry I ruined your fun. I'm a terrible friend" Dougie cried, letting all his feelings out in pretty much one breath. Danny inhaled sharply, Tom paled and the other boys froze in shock.

"Dougie stop apologising" Charlie told his friend through the tears starting to fall down his cheeks. "This is my fault. I started it. If anyone's apologising, it should be me"

"He's right" Tom told him. "We should've realised that this would be hard for you to watch. We're all really, really sorry" The other boys nodded, tears streaming down each and every face.

"Guys please. I shouldn't be so weak and stop you having fun. I wish this had never happened. I wish I didn't feel so terrified every time one of you isn't near me. I wish I could stand up and run around and play bass. I wish I could watch you having a pillow fight without breaking down because it brings back memories. I wish I didn't have those memories. They haunt me every night guys. I can never get away from them and I hate it. I hate those men who decided that it would be okay to ruin my life for some money. I thought I was gonna die in that cell. I honestly did. To tell you the truth, I wish I had. Then I wouldn't have to put up with this and you guys would be able to live your lives without worrying about me. I hate it. I hate it but I can't change it. If you want to go and live your lives without me, I understand. I'm broken and I don't know if I'll ever be fixed again. These memories will never go away and I'll always have the scars to remind me. I'll understand if you don't want to live with that. You guys are all so talented and the bands are so successful. You don't need me. I hate this" Dougie managed to get through his little speech, head bowed, tears staining the duvet he was staring at. His voice only broke on the last phrase and he turned his head to the wall, not wanting to watch his friends leave. They stood, staring at him for a while.

"Dougie, don't be so stupid" Danny said vehemently. "Of course we still want to be your friend and we want to do anything to help you be the old Dougs. We know you'll still have the memories and scars, but we want to try and fix you. You're our best friend Dougs and we'll never leave you. I'll never leave you and I know the boys don't want to leave you either. We want to see you better Dougs. We love you" The others echoed their agreement and Dougie smiled weakly at them.

"Cheers guys. I love you all too. Will you please understand if I say I just want a little bit of time to myself. Please don't leave the room, I can't stand it if you did that. I just want a little bit of thinking time" Dougie stared at them, an apology in his eyes.

"Of course Dougs" Tom smiled at him.

"We'll just be over here watching TV. We understand you don't want to be left completely alone and that's fine Dougs" Matt told him and they walked over to the other side of the room.

"Sorry guys" Dougie called after them. Danny turned around and looked back at the other boy, nothing but love in his eyes.

"Don't be" and with that Danny sat on the sofa and started laughing and joking with his friends, leaving Dougs to his thoughts. Dougie gazed after them sadly and started thinking about life, his friends, his family and what would happen next.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN So yeah, hope you enjoyed that._**

**_As I said before, stick suggestions as to where to go next in a review if you will._**

**_Speaking of reviews, PLEASE GO REVIEW NOW. YAYA._**

**_LOVE._**


	20. Chapter 20

_**A/N dearest, darling readers, I must start with hoping you will except my sincerest apologies. I never meant to leave you hanging this long, but circumstances have meant I was only able to write more of this fic today. I was ill all last week, and had dance and homework after school every night this week so have literally just had time this evening. I do apologise.**_

___**On a lighter note, I hope you enjoy this cheeky little chappie :D Lots of Dougie thinking, lots of angst, lots of tears. YAYA. **_

___**Thank you again to ALL my reviewers, you are the coolest, bestest people on this site. Hell, you're the coolest, bestest people in the WORLD. I have a lot of love for you, and thank you for reading and reviewing and showing me that perhaps I am a good writer, something I've never thought before. THANK YOU ALL.**_

___**Disclaimer: Still not mine. Shocking right. ONE DAY THEY WILL ALL BE MINE. *cue maniacal laughter* MWAHAHAHAHAHA**_

* * *

><p><em><em>Dougie lay on his back, staring blankly up at the white ceiling, various thoughts fluttering around his muddled head. He could vaguely hear the TV and chatter of his friends in the background. His friends. They were the most important thing to him in the world, besides his family, bass and reptiles. Danny, Tom, Harry, James, Matt and Charlie. Those six guys had been there for him ever since he'd auditioned to join Mcfly and had been more of a father figure to him than his dad had ever been.

Tom had helped him with his first shave barely five months ago. Harry had corrupted him and got him drunk the night they'd released their first single. Danny had helped him get through his dad leaving their family, since Danny had gone through the same thing. James had taught him more about music and the industry than he'd probably ever need to know. Matt had introduced him to the world of VIP nightclubs. Charlie had guided him through the tricky world of paparazzi and TV/radio/magazine interviews.

Dougie owed everything to these guys especially now. After what had happened, Dougie knew he owed his life to his six best friends. They had given Dougie more than he'd ever expected and could have hoped. They were the best guys in the whole world. And that was why Dougie knew he had to do what he was thinking. He didn't want to, but he knew in the long run it would be best for everyone. Dougie knew he was holding his friends back now. With every set back, and there were plenty, he was taking away a little more of his friends future.

They were all so talented. Matt, James and Charlie with Busted and everything they'd achieved in a relatively short space of time. Tom, Danny and Harry with Mcfly and everything they'd achieved, admittedly with Dougie, in an even shorter space of time. And that was why Dougie had to separate himself from them.

He'd miss them. God knows he'd miss them, more than he even cared to admit to himself. But he had to leave. It wasn't fair on his friends anymore. They'd given up so much to help Dougie through this and they shouldn't do anymore. Danny, Tom and Harry had given up going on their sell out tour, Matt, James and Charlie had given up recording their next killer album. They'd all given up their social lives. Hell, they'd even moved house. Dougie knew that if he left, then they'd be able to get back to normality and get back on track. They'd go on to become even more sucessful and Dougie wouldn't be there, because he couldn't.

Dougie knew he had to leave. And the sooner he did so, the better for everyone else.

A few hours had passed since Dougie had asked for some time to think and yet there he lay, still deep in thought, formulating his plan to leave. Danny glanced over at the still form of his best friend.

"Hey, do you think Dougs is alright guys?" He asked, slight worry in his voice. The others also glanced over to the slight bassist.

"Stop worrying Danny, he's fine. He just needs time to think, which is understandable, given what he's been through" Tom told Danny, his intent gaze searching the guitarists expression. Danny sighed deeply.

"I know. It's just, he's still so young and he's been through so much. He's still going through it and I just wish there was more we could do. When he started crying during the pillow fight, it just broke me guys. He used to love pillow fights. Hell, he used to be the one who initiated them half the time, more often than not at the most inopportune times and now he sobs his heart of because of one. It's not right and he shouldn't have to go through this" Dannys voice broke at this point and he fell into Toms outstretched, waiting arms.

Danny sobbed and sobbed against the blondes chest, Tom stroking his back and making soothing noises the whole time. The others sat there, staring at the northerner the whole time with tears in their eyes. They all agreed with what Danny had expressed and they all hated that Dougie had to go through this. It wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair at that moment and they all hated it.

Eventually Danny took one last shuddering sob and sat up, wiping at the tears still streaming from his eyes. He took in the soaking front of Toms t-shirt and laughed weakly.

"Sorry about that" he said, gesturing towards the wet patch. Tom looked down and smiled slightly.

"Don't worry about it mate. You needed that. We all needed that" he said gently. The others nodded their agreement.

"Hey guys, I feel like a movie and pizza night" Dougies voice broke through. The boys sat around the TV started and stared around at the small bassist who was struggling to sit up in bed. Danny immediately moved to his side to assist him.

"Sounds like a good idea" Charlie said. The others nodded.

"Danny, do you wanna stay here with Dougs and the rest of us will go get everything we need" Harry chimed in.

"Course. Stop off at Tescos on your way and pick up some beers, coke, crisps and chocolate as well" Danny told them and sat down at Dougies bedside. Harry, Tom, Charlie, James and Matt all said their good byes and headed out of the door.

Dougie smiled slightly to himself. Everything was working out just the way he wanted it to. Pretty soon he'd be on his way out and his friends would be leading normal lives again. He couldn't wait.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN so yah. Hope you enjoyed that as much as I liked writing it :D Quite proud of this chapter, don't even know._**

**_I really, really hope I can get another chapter up this weekend, but it's gonna be crazy as I have orchestra and two concerts. But I shall write in my spare time, just for you guys. YAYA. It probs won't be uploaded till Sunday evening though realistically._**

**_Anyway, I LOVE ALL YOU REVIEWERS. IF YOU DON'T REVIEW, NO COOKIES FOR YOU MY FRIEND._**

**_SO YAH. Click that little review button and see what happens. It's good fun, I promise :D Cookies and hugs all round :L_**

**_LOVE. REVIEW. _**


	21. Chapter 21

_**A/N YAYA NEW CHAPPIE AGAIN. Exciting times! Only a few days overdue, but hey, hope it was worth the wait.**_

___**Thank you again for all the lovely reviews YOU ARE SERIOUSLY THE BEST GUISE. WHAT WOULD I DO WITHOUT YOU? Die a lonely fanfic writer, thats what :L**_

___**Disclaimer: Breaking news. I DON'T OWN MCFLY OR BUSTED. Creys. I also don't own tickets to their next tour which starts EXTREMELY soon. MORE CREYS. CRY ME A RIVER and all that shat. **_

* * *

><p><em><em>Danny and Dougie sat in silence for a few minutes, Dougie staring at the ceiling, contemplating how to put the next phase of his plan into action. Danny was looking over the slight form of his best friend, feeling so happy and glad that Dougie was alive and well and getting better every day. Dougie broke the silence with a loud yawn and glanced over at Danny.

"Hey Danny" he started.

"Yes Dougs?"

"I'm really tired and a bit sore. Can you get me some painkillers and then I'd like to sleep until the others get back?" Dougs asked. Danny gazed at the bassist, searching his expression for Dougs true feelings. Danny had long since learnt Dougie was not one to tell Danny exactly how he was feeling, but Danny was getting pretty good at guessing the young boys mood. And right now Danny could tell Dougie was not in a good mood. He wasn't sure why, or what was wrong. He just hoped it was nothing more than pain in his injuries. But Danny knew there were plenty of underlying problems with Dougie right now. He just hoped it wasn't anything serious.

"Course Dougs. I'll be right back" And with that Danny took one last, swift gazed at the slight boy and left the room. Dougie watched as he went, his blue eyes filling with tears as he thought about what he was about to do to his best friend. Dougie knew it was all for the best in the long run though. They didn't need Dougie anymore; anyway Dougie was completely useless to them now. They'd get on a lot better without him and a few months down the line, he'd be completely forgotten about. Hell, it would probably be days till they didn't know who Dougie was anymore. They'd be writing and playing and touring and everyone would be happy. Dougie sighed. He knew deep down he wouldn't be happy, but he had to do this for his friends. It wasn't fair on them anymore, he was just a burden.

Dougie's thoughts were interrupted by Danny coming noisily back into the room.

"Hey Dougs, I got you a glass of water and your painkillers" he called as he walked over to Dougies bed. Dougie just smiled weakly at the guitarist, not wanting to speak to him. He knew if he was to leave soon, he had to start the separation process now. It would make it easier for all of them.

Danny smiled back at Dougie, slightly confused as to why he was just smiling at him. Shaking his head, he continued to Dougies bedside and set the water and tablets on the nightstand. He leant over the thin body of his friend and heaved him up the bed into a sitting position. He plumped the pillows up behind the boy and arranged the duvet over him again. Satisfied, he stepped back from the bed and surveyed Dougie.

"That alright Dougs?" he asked. Dougie smiled and nodded. Once again, Danny was confused as to why he didn't speak, but put it down to him being exhausted.

The guitarist helped Dougie take his tablets and then settled him down to sleep.

"You sleep for as long as you want Dougs, I'll make sure the boys don't disturb you" Dougie smiled yet again and obediently shut his eyes. He knew he wasn't going to sleep though. He had far too much to think about and organise in a short space of time and anyway, he had to be awake and listening to the boys.

A short while later, Dougie heard the front door open and the familiar sounds of the five other boys falling into the house, all trying to get through the door at once. Danny immediately leapt up out of his seat in front of the TV and dashed into the hall, trying to shush his friends.

"Guys shut up" he called as loudly as he dared. "Dougs is asleep and I don't want to disturb him. He looked completely knackered and he needs all the rest he can get"

The others immediately shut up, all feeling slightly guilty.

"Sorry Danny" Tom stage whispered.

"Don't worry about it. You weren't to know" he smiled at them and ushered the quickly and quietly into one of the other living rooms across the hall from Dougies room. Once inside, they all ran to grab the best seats on the sofas and then collapsed onto them. Danny, who was left behind, had nowhere to sit. Instead, he opted to jump on top of Tom and James, who were sharing the little two-seater sofa. They groaned and tried to budge Danny off of the top of them.

"Sorry boys, no can do I'm afraid. I ain't moving for nothing or no one" he laughed. Tom and James redoubled their efforts. Danny just wiggled about on top of them, his bony bum digging into their legs.

"Danny, I'm begging ya man. Get the fack off of me" James pleaded, laughing along with him.

"Nope" Danny cried and then fell off of them as James kneed him violently in the back. "Hey, what was that for?" he asked indignantly as he dusted himself off.

"For being a bloody great oaf" Tom giggled. Danny just glared at him and went and sat on the floor in front of Harry.

"So, what movie did you get?" he asked the room at large.

"The Inbetweeners Movie" cried Charlie happily.

"Ahh, I flacking love that movie" sighed Matt. The six boys in the room fell into a deep, intense discussion about the Inbetweeners Movie and all things Inbetweeners. None of them realised that Dougie was stood outside the door, listening to their banter with unhappy tears running down his cheeks.

Listening to his friend's easy chatter, Dougie felt his heart break into what felt like a million pieces. He just couldn't do it anymore, he wasn't the same Dougie he had been only a few short months ago. Life felt harder for him now. The effort it had taken him to get out of bed was proof enough of that. Dougie sighed. It was more apparent now than ever that he had to leave his friends for good. He glanced down at the wad of cash in his hand he'd taken from Danny's wallet. He hoped Danny wouldn't mind. He'd not taken a lot, just enough to get buses and trains back to his home.

What he really needed now was his mum. He needed her to hold him, kiss him, reassure him he did the right thing by leaving his friends. Dougie listened a while longer at the door, longing and wishing he could be in there with his friends, exchanging the easy banter, initiating a pillow fight, laughing at something stupid Tom had done. Just being normal. When he couldn't take it anymore he struggled back into his room/living room and collapsed on his bed, hiding the cash in his boxers.

He lay there, trying to catch his breath and ease the pain. And then he cried again.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN SO YAH. There you go. Another cheeky little chapter. Enjoy, shall update soon because I LOVE YOU ALL.**_

**_NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO. _**

**_BLOODY GREAT REVIEW BUTTON DOWN THERE, YOU CAN'T MISS IT. PRESS IT, AND WATCH THE MAGIC COME ALIVE :D WOOOOO_**

**_LOVE. HUGS. REVIEW. _**


	22. Chapter 22

**_A/N Wow. I've abandoned you guys for a very long time and I am extremely sorry. I've been so busy and what not with dance, a dance show, homework, GCSE results (got an A on my AS Geography, happy happy bunny :D) and I've been ill. In fact, it's because I'm ill that you're getting this chapter now._**

**_As an 'I'm REALLY sorry' I'm working on another angsty Dougie&Danny oneshot that you should totally check out. It's dedicated to all my AMAZING reviewers._**

**_Seriously, you guys are fantastic and make me want to write more. As of the last chapter I've had 70 reviews and that is seriously something. When I wrote this I barely thought I'd get one review and no one would like it. But I've had 70 reviews, people have said they loved it, favourites and whatnot, as well as all the visitors/hits and from SO many different countries. It's genuinely crazy and I can't quite get my head around it._**

**_A MASSIVE MASSIVE THANK YOU goes to Orange-Peel-Pixie who beta'd this for me and will beta all the rest of the chapters if I'm lucky :D She is actually seriously amazing and I love her for everything she's done with this chapter and made it SO much better :D You guys should go check out her fanfics and give her some love :D_**

**_Disclaimer: Pffft, I wish._**

**_I'll shut up now. ON WITH THE STORY._**

* * *

><p>Dougie lay in bed, his eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. He focused on his breathing, trying to keep it deep, slow and steady. He could feel Danny's eyes studying him, trying to work out whether the younger boy was actually asleep. After what felt like an age, Dougie heard Danny sigh quietly, and his soft footsteps walking away towards the door. The footsteps paused, and Dougie heard Danny's voice call to him quietly.<p>

"I'll be back in a minute Dougs, promise" Dougie heard, as Danny turned the handle and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, barely making a sound.

Danny stopped and leant back against the door, breathing heavily. He didn't want to do this; he didn't want to leave Dougie alone in the room. He knew what would happen if the bassist woke up and no one was there with him, he knew the effect that it would have on Dougie, but still he had to go. Danny hadn't been out of that room in days, preferring to stay by Dougie's side, but now that the others were all out of the house, and Dougie was deeply asleep, Danny felt like he had to take advantage of the situation. He wanted to do something special for Dougie, for everyone, really. He wanted to lift the general mood with a bit of much-needed, light-hearted entertainment, and, moreover, he wanted to reassure Dougie the boys did all still care for him, something he wasn't so sure how much Dougie believed anymore.

Danny quickly walked up the stairs to what was supposed to be his new room, not that he had actually spent any time there since they had moved in. He walked in and glanced around, quickly spotting his guitar poking out from underneath the bed frame. He pulled it out, and took the instrument out of its case, laying it on his neatly made, un-slept in bed. He rooted around for a few more minutes, before finding his song writing book and a pencil, taking them both over to his bed and sitting down. Placing the items next to him, he picked up his guitar and started to tune it, letting the familiar notes and chords take him over, in being and in mind, as he focused on the familiar task. Once content with the tuning, Danny took a deep breath, and began to pluck some chords. Nodding to himself, happy with them, he opened up his notebook and turned to a blank page, scribbling down some words, his scrawl turning into a title and the beginnings of some lyrics. He continued along in this vein for a while, playing his guitar and writing lyrics. It was nice, peaceful, even, being back to the familiar routine that he knew and loved. It made him feel like he used to, like he had done back before everything had gone wrong.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Dougie was listening intently. If his ears served him correctly, Danny had walked out of the room and gone upstairs. He had said he'd only be gone a short while though, so Dougie knew he had to act quickly. Sliding slowly out of bed, he placed his feet on the floor for the first time since he had been rescued. He gasped in pain, wincing as it shot violently through his legs, reverberating throughout the rest of his body. He hadn't expected it to hurt so much, he hadn't realised quite how bad his numerous injuries still were. Never mind, Dougie thought to himself, trying to ease the pain through his thoughts, it had felt worse when those men had been beating him, so he knew that he could take it, however much it felt like he could not. He had to take it, this would be his only chance to get together everything he needed, in preparation for leaving his friends behind, forever.

He took a deep breath, and attempted a couple of unsteady trial steps, trying to get used to the unfamiliar feeling of walking again. Once he was happy, he slowly moved around the room. As the living room had now properly been converted into his bedroom, all of Dougie's things were dotted around the place, in various wardrobes, and behind an assortment of doors. He quickly found everything he needed: a relatively big bag (though not so big that he would not be able to carry it properly), t-shirts, shorts, jeans, jumpers, clean underwear, pyjamas, deodorant and other toiletries, and his wallet, stuffed with as much cash as he could find, as well as his card.

He glanced around, trying to see if there was anything he had forgotten. As his gaze landed on his treasured bass, Dougie's breath hitched in his throat. His bass… The one thing he enjoyed doing more than anything else was playing his bass. It was this sheer joy, combined with his talent, that had gotten him into the band in the first place. He tore his eyes away and went to stagger back over to his bed, before giving into his heart. He approached his bass, and picked it up reverently, stroking the case. Finally satisfied that he had everything, he moved to the door and pressed his ear against it, listening intently for any noise that might indicate Danny's return. Unable to hear any sign, he quietly opened the door and slipped out of the room. He went to the little-used side door, and stashed his bag and bass in an equally little-used cupboard next to it. Pleased that everything was working out the way that he wanted it to, Dougie made his way back to his room, painfully, and climbed back into bed.

Once settled back against the pillows, Dougie smiled slightly: time to put the next phase of his plan into action. He took a deep, slow breath, opened his mouth, and screamed. Screams akin to those of when he had been beaten up. A scream reminiscent of the time he'd been raped. Screams which could have turned the hardest of men's blood cold.

"HELP!" he screamed, putting everything into that one word, all the pain he now felt throughout his body, all the misery threatening to overcome him, everything, "PLEASE! SO ALONE…HELP… SOMEONE! THEY'RE GOING TO GET ME… HURTS… PLEASE," the blood-curdling screams continued, echoing through the house.

Upstairs, Danny paused at what he was doing, his blood running cold and the hairs on the back of his neck sticking up on edge. Dougie, Dougie was screaming again. Danny tossed aside his guitar and notebook, the pages closing and tumbling to the floor, and ran down the stairs, berating himself the entire way. How could he have been so stupid? He knew this would happen if Dougie woke up, and yet he had done it anyway. He was stupid, an idiot, a complete knob. He'd left a vulnerable, fragile boy alone, even though he knew that he shouldn't, and now he'd probably ruined Dougie's chances of recovery, or at the very least set him back a few paces.

Skidding to a halt in front of the door, Danny threw it open and ran to Dougie's bedside. He put an arm around the screaming, thrashing boy and stroked his hair, attempting to calm Dougie down, and to stop him from screaming. Unfortunately, it only served to make Dougie scream harder.

"NO…GO AWAY! YOU LEFT ME…I WAS SO SCARED…DON'T TOUCH ME!" Dougie bellowed at the older boy.

Danny jumped back from the bed and stared at his best friend in shock. He hadn't known how badly he'd hurt Dougie by not being in the room. Without really realising it, hot, angry, hurt tears began forcefully streaming down his face. He hated this, this helpless feeling he had. Dougie didn't want him to touch him, so all Danny could do now was stand back, watch, and wait.

Dougie screaming continued for a few minutes more before he finally stopped, slumped back against the pillows, breathing heavily, all his energy completely spent.

"Dougs?" Danny said, hesitantly.

Dougie didn't say anything, instead just rolling over on his side, his face to the wall. Danny felt more tears fall at this blatant rejection. He wiped them away impatiently and tried again.

"Dougs, please. I didn't mean to leave you alone, it's just I had…something I had to do. Please Dougie, I didn't mean to. I'll do anything, Dougs, just talk to me again," Danny's voice rose higher and higher in his desperation to get Dougie to speak again.

Dougie just lay there, facing the wall. His heart was breaking at the desperate tone in his older friend's voice, but Dougie's mind was made up. This was all just part of his plan. It might hurt his friends to start with, but this was better for them in the long run. It was hard, but Dougie knew that it was what he had to.

"Please Dougie… I'll do anything. Just one word, Dougs, please, please don't be mad at me. I truly didn't mean to,"

Tears started to drip down Dougie's face at Danny's words, but he stayed, resolutely, facing the wall. Danny threw his hands up in despair and fell to his knees, properly sobbing now. After a few minutes he carefully stood back up again and made his way to the door, thinking Dougie wouldn't even want him in the room anymore. Before he left he spoke two words. Two simple, whispered, heartbreaking words:

"I'm sorry."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN so yah. Hope you enjoyed, and once again I'm so sorry for the amount of time it's taken to write this.**_

_**Next update should be sooon, about to start writing it now as I have nothing to do considered I'm stuck on the sofa for the rest of the day and it's barely midday :L Once it's written I'll send it to my FANTASTIC beta and then when she sends it back I'll stick it up and yeah. You get the general gist.**_

_**Reviews? Reviews make Dougie happy, and we all want that :D**_

_**LOVE. REVIEW. YAYA.**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**A/N YAY betad chapter finally :D thank you so much to the fantastic Orange-Peel-Pixie for making this chapter SO much better than it was before! She is genuinely the best beta . **_

_**Anyway, enjoy :D**_

_**Disclaimer: in case you hadn't already got this, nothing you recognise is mine. Shocking, I know.**_

* * *

><p><em><em>Weighed down by a mountain of shopping bags, Tom, Harry, James, Matt and Charlie banged open the front door of Mcfly Mansion, staggering inside.

"Hi honey, we're home!" Tom called out in a high-pitched falsetto.

Tom listened out for a reply, eventually shrugging when none came, thinking Danny and Dougie must've just fallen asleep. He led the rest of the group through the house and into the kitchen, each of the five singing different songs at the top of their voices and dancing along as they went, a euphoric state of happiness encasing them. Dougie was home, and whilst he was still recovering, both physically and mentally, he was definitely on the road to recovery, and, more importantly, he was safe. They were all together now, in the new Mcfly Mansion (or should that be Mcfly and Busted Mansion? Considering James, Matt and Charlie had all but moved in), and best of all, they were about to sit down to a movie night, reminiscent of their now-legendary old ones, complete with Tom's cinema-style widescreen. Nothing could make life much better for the boys tonight.

They all piled into the cavernous kitchen and dropped their bags down on the work surfaces. Tom started sashaying round the room as he packed everything away, still singing at the top of his voice. The others sat down on any available space and joined in with Tom's singing, everyone's amusement from the situation evident from their faces. Eventually Tom was done.

"Let's go find Dan and Doug and then we can crash, yeah?" He announced, indicating he had indeed finished.

"Yeah, movie night time!" James cried, fleeing from the kitchen and taking off in the direction of Dougie's room.

"Such a child, he is!" Charlie laughed, as they followed the excitable boy out of the room at a steadier pace.

"Hey!" James said, affronted, popped his head back round the door, making Tom jump, "I'm not a child!" He finished, glaring at each of his friends in turn.

"Sorry Jamie!" Matt laughed. James grinned in return and bounded back out of the room.

"Dougie, Danny! It's movie time!" James called at the top of his voice, running through the house. Tom, Matt, Charlie and Harry followed behind, hoping desperately that Dougie hadn't fallen asleep.

"James, be quiet, you fool! Dougs might be sleeping," Tom hissed, as they caught up to James outside Dougie's door. James immediately stopped bouncing and singing, guilt starting to creep onto his face.

"Oh, shit, sorry, didn't think," James whispered.

"Well, never mind now," Tom whispered back, knocking on Dougie's door and waiting for an answer. When none came, he frowned and knocked again. Still silence was his only response.

"They both must be asleep," He mused aloud, before pushing open the door, fully expecting to see an adorable scene of Danny and Dougie curled up together on Dougie's bed. The scene that greeted him instead was not one he could have expected at all.

At first glance, the room appeared to be empty. Not_empty_empty, the fixtures and furniture were all still in place, but there were no people. No Danny, no Dougie, no one. Tom frowned in bewilderment. Surely Dougie must be in the room? He wasn't even allowed out of bed yet. Tom could sense a similar confusion coming from the boys standing around him.

Tom looked over the room once more, more thoroughly this time. When he saw the raised lump on Dougie's bed, he breathed a sigh of relief, walking across the room towards the curled-up form.

"Hey Dougs," He called, softly, "You awake?"

Dougie didn't reply. Tom moved to his bedside and glanced down at the seemingly sleeping boy. He was completely covered with blankets, to the point where Tom could only just make out a lock of dusky-golden hair poking out. He frowned once again.

"You must be hot under there," Tom mumbled, as he lifted the edge of the duvet to draw it back. When he exposed Dougie's head from the covers, he took a step back in confusion._Dougie was awake._His eyes were open, staring at the wall.

"Dougs?" he asked, his voice laced with confusion. Still Dougie remained silent and motionless.

"Dougs? Why aren't you speaking? What's happened?" Tom heard Charlie ask, stepping forward to stand beside him.

"Where's Danny gone, Dougs?" James asked, in dulcet tones. Dougie still did not respond.

"Tom, what's happened? Why won't Dougie speak to us?" James asked, his desperation for answers evident from his voice.

"I don't know, James, Dougs won't say anything to me either," Tom replied, pausing as James's questions sunk in, "What did you mean, where has Danny gone?" Tom asked, a sense of understanding slowly beginning to dawn on him as he pieced fragments together. Dougie wouldn't speak and was clearly shaken up. Danny wasn't in the room and was nowhere to be seen. The two had to be linked, surely. The only thing Tom could think of was that Danny had left Dougie alone for the first time since the incident. But why would Danny do that? He wouldn't, would he?

"Danny isn't in here, Harry and Matt have gone off to find him. Why would he have left Dougie? Surely he's clever enough to realise he shouldn'thave left Dougie on his own, not yet at least," James' voice was full of confusion and anger, yet at the same time hung onto a note of desperate hope that maybe this wasn't Danny's fault. It nearly made Tom's heart break to see.

"I don't know James, I just don't know. I'd hope he'd have known that. I thought he did, I mean he hasn't left Dougie's side since we got him home. I just… I don't know," Tom said, slowly, his heart sinking. Just when they'd hoped that everything had started to be getting back to normal. Just when they began to believe their luck might be starting to change, this happens; even in spite of all their wishes that Dougie was finally getting better mentally, as well as physically. Tom couldn't believe it.

"He's in his bedroom Tom!" Harry shouted, as he and Matt burst through the door, "And he's locked the door! I dunno what's gone on, or what he's doing in there, but you're our best bet to make him listen, make him see what he's done!" Harry gasped, breathlessly.

Tom nodded, his eyes steely, "Harry, James, Matt you come with me. Chaz, you stay here and make sure Dougs doesn't get too much worse," He directed, as he took off through the door, the other three following suit. Charlie just nodded, mute, and moved over towards Dougie's bedside. He gazed down at the younger boy, the boy who had so much promise, the boy who was now injured, mentally scarred, the boy who wouldn't even speak to his closest friends. Charlie felt hot tears begin to slide down his face, tasting the salt as they glided down his cheeks and over his lips.

"I'm so sorry, Dougs," He choked out, through his tears. The singer took one of the younger boy's hands. Dougie just lay there, unresponsive, all the while his heart breaking into yet another set of pieces, one for each one of his friend's tears. And yet, in spite of everything, Dougie willed himself to lie still, thinking it would all be for the best if he just stayed silent, if he didn't say another word.

Charlie felt his tears fall faster and faster, "I'm sorry. I have to go," He mumbled, as he fled after the others, not wanting Dougie, who had been through so much already, to see him crying.

Dougie lay still for a few more minutes, trying to both compose himself, and slow down his frantic heart. It was now or never. Everything was working out just as he'd hoped. Dougie could not have planned it any better.

Bracing himself, the young bassist swung his still-weak legs out over the side of the bed, and slowly lowered his weight down onto them. He winced slightly at the pain that shot through them, shaking his head in disapproval at his own weakness, casting the pain aside like he knew he had to. Carefully, he hobbled over to the door and pressed his ear to it, listening intently, flinching at what he heard. Tom was really ripping into Danny. Dougie felt his eyes tear up. It wasn't even Danny's fault. Never mind, Dougie thought, it wouldn't matter soon, anyway, not once he had done what he knew he had to do.

Opening the door, Dougie made his way across the house to the little-used cupboard, moving as quickly, and as quietly, as his injured legs would allow him to. He grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder, before pulling his bass out with the other. Taking a deep breath, Dougie opened the front door and stepped outside, leaving Mcfly Mansion for what he intended to be the last time. Walking away, he allowed himself just one quick glance back at the house, as his eyes filled up with tears. He shook his head, hating himself for this weakness, hobbling away down the unfamiliar streets, houses on either side blurring with his tears of hurt, anger and sadness.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, unaware of Dougie's actions, Tom was still stood outside of Danny's bedroom door, shouting at him with all his might.<p>

"...AND CAN I JUST REMIND YOU WHAT DOUGIE'S BEEN THROUGH? THOUGH I'M SURE YOU REMEMBER, IF YOUR NIGHTMARES OF HIS SCREAMS ARE AS VIVID AS MINE. AND THEN WHAT DO YOU GO AND DO? LEAVE HIM A-BLOODY-LONE, EVEN THOUGH YOU KNOW HE BEGGED AND BEGGED NOT TO BE. WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND, YOU STUPID, IGNORANT FUCKER? WERE YOU ACTUALLY THINKING? DO YOU EVER THINK DANNY? 'CAUSE IT SURE AS HELL DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT!" Tom shouted to the guitarist behind the other side of the door.

Harry, Matt, James, and Charlie, who had come to join them, stood to one side, flinching occasionally at the particularly harsh insults. They knew it was no use to try and stop Tom, though. Once he got going, he_really_got going, and nothing they could say could possibly help matters.

Danny's bedroom door banging open, interrupting Tom, mid-flow. He stopped in his tracks, shocked at the state of the curly haired northerner. Danny looked truly awful, his eyes were red and puffy, with tears still streaming down his dampened cheeks, his hair was a mess looking almost as though birds were about to nest in it, and his baggy white t-shirt and blue jogging bottoms were tatty and crumpled. Though they had seen him less than a few hours ago, Danny looked as though he had not slept in weeks.

"Danny?" Tom asked, hesitantly, his voice soft.

"I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean to!" Danny shouted at them, before seemingly giving up on his attempts to fight, "I didn't mean to," He whispered, his voice cracking, raw with emotion.

"Why?" Harry asked. Just one simple word, but loaded with feeling, a desperate hope.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Danny told them truthfully, "I wasn't thinking, I guess, not really."

The others simply stared at him, their faces blank slates, devoid of anything, just willing to know why their friend had done what he had done. Danny cast his eyes back on each of them in turn, a plea for forgiveness and a wish for understanding glistening in his eyes.

"I just… I thought it would be okay. Dougs looked like he was in such a deep sleep, like he would be out for a while. You guys were all gone and I… I just, I really needed some time to myself. Just to think, you know, on my own… with no one else around. I haven't really had a chance to think properly since Dougie came back… But then he woke up. And he screamed, and it was just like hearing him scream on all those awful videos again," Danny spurted out, at such a pace in which his individual words and sentences amalgamated into one steady stream of heartbroken consciousness.

Seeing Danny's face so filled with terror and heartbreak, Tom automatically moved over to the boy and placed his arms round him, hugging him, hoping to offer some shred of comfort.

Danny opened his mouth to speak again, his head pressed against Tom's chest, "I couldn't bear it… and I knew it was my fault… It was all my fault. I ran down to him, I tried to get him to calm down, but he... he... it... just... he told me to go away," Danny managed, before breaking down in tears. The others moved forwards to comfort him. Danny took a deep breath, "It was awful, guys, just awful. And then, after he shouted at me, he wouldn't say anything else. I couldn't do anything. I ran. I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen," He cried.

"Shh, shh, Danny, it's okay," Tom soothed, stroking the guitarist's hair.

"Yeah, it's alright, Dan. We didn't realise what happened, we're sorry," James told him, his face troubled.

"Yeah, and even if Dougs doesn't want to speak to any of us, we should go explain to him anyway. At least then he will have to listen," Harry said.

"Dougie's a good guy Dan, you know that. Once he realises what's gone on, he'll forgive you," Charlie soothed.

The group made their way down the stairs and into Dougie's room. Tom pushed Danny gently forward towards the bassist's bedside, nodding silent encouragement. Danny smiled back, and took a deep breath, preparing himself to speak.

"Dougie… Dougs, look, I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt you again. I just thought, I thought that you were asleep, that you wouldn't wake up. It was stupid of me, I know that. I know you hate being left alone, but I thought that just for half an hour or so, that it wouldn't matter. You looked so peaceful. And I really needed a little time out. But then you started screaming, and it just broke me, Dougs. I hated it. I hated that it was me who made you scream, like those men did. It broke my heart, Dougs. And then you told me to go away, and that was almost worse. But nothing was worse than when you wouldn't talk to me. I'm so sorry, and I just hope you know I never meant to hurt you. I want to protect you Dougie. I want to help you through the pain, through the nightmares. I never wanted you to be hurt again. I hope you know that," Danny said, finishing his heartfelt apology with a broken whisper, trying to convey to Dougie quite how sorry he really was. Still, no reply came from the bed.

"Dougie… Dougs, look, I'm really sorry. I never meant to hurt you again. I just thought, I thought that you were asleep, that you wouldn't wake up. It was stupid of me, I know that. I know you hate being left alone, but I thought that just for half an hour or so, that it wouldn't matter. You looked so peaceful. And I really needed a little time out. But then you started screaming, and it just broke me, Dougs. I hated it. I hated that it was me who made you scream, like those men did. It broke my heart, Dougs. And then you told me to go away, and that was almost worse. But nothing was worse than when you wouldn't talk to me. I'm so sorry, and I just hope you know I never meant to hurt you. I want to protect you Dougie. I want to help you through the pain, through the nightmares. I never wanted you to be hurt again. I hope you know that," Danny said, finishing his heartfelt apology with a broken whisper, trying to convey to Dougie quite how sorry he really was. Still, no reply came from the bed.

Danny couldn't take it anymore, breaking down completely. In his desperation to make Dougie listen to him, he tore back the covers from the bed. Looking down at the bed that met his eyes, Danny froze, ignoring the tears dripping down off the end of his nose. The bed was empty. Inexplicably empty_._How? How could that even be? Not to mention why? Dougie could barely move, let alone hop up out of bed and walk away. Where could he be? Danny looked up, his eyes darting wildly around the room, his manic gaze eventually landing on his baffled friends. They looked back, their expressions asking questions for which there were no answers.

"Guys, Dougie's... Dougie's gone..."

_**Genuinely hope you liked this one better than the last :D I love you all. Reviews?**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**A/N again, I'm so sorry for the wait but I've been crazy busy with school, revision, homework and a mad easter holiday. I'm also sorry for the shortness of this chapter, it's more of a filler chapter than anything and this story seems to be running away from me but it's all good, I promise.**_

_**I'm also not allowed to go dance this week because I've damaged my ankle, so I have quite a bit of free time to write a lot more of this :D The next chapter is already in the process of being written so you shouldn't have the long wait you did this time :) **_

_**Many massive thanks again to the brilliant Orange-Peel-Pixie, I'm sure you'll all agree she did a fantastic job with this chapter :D she is absoloutely wonderful, go show her some love if you will. A massive thanks to all my reviewers as well, you guys are all fantastic and beautiful and make me want to write more. Also, to everyone who's favourited, alerted or even just read and enjoyed, I love you all as well. This story has had more of a response than I ever thought it would and it's just crazy.**_

_**Disclaimer: unless you've been living under a rock for the past 23 chapters, you'll know that in actual fact, I don't own anything you recognise and never will. Sadly.**_

* * *

><p><em><em>After what seemed like an age, Dougie stumbled to a halt, taking in his new surroundings, his tears having run dry. He felt his heart sink with despair, as he came to the realisation that he had no idea where on Earth he was. His eyes darted around, frantic, hoping that he might spot something, anything, which could give him even the slightest clue as to where he was. To his disappointment, but not so much to his surprise, there was nothing. He was lost. Feeling even more hopeless than he had done in a while, Dougie sank down to the ground on which he stood, fresh tears forming in his eyes and running down his already-stained cheeks.

In a moment of clarity, Dougie realised quite how desperate his situation had become. He'd run away from his best friends, the people who were trying to help him, and he had no idea where he was. He knew he couldn't go back, but he had no idea where he could go, or who he could call to ask for help. He couldn't very well call his bandmates, he'd run away from them, after all, albeit for their own benefit. He couldn't phone his mum, not with knowing quite how disappointed in him she would be for running away from the best thing, and the best people, that had ever happened to him. She wouldn't even understand the reasons behind it, most likely. He had no one. His fleeting clarity melted into panic as he realised he was stuck, completely and utterly stuck. In a vain hope that there might be someone, anyone, who he could call for help, he pulled his phone out of the pocket of his trackies, and scrolled through the phonebook, pleading under his breath for there to be someone who could help him amidst the list of long-forgotten names. Spying a name, Dougie felt a slight relief, as it hit him that there may be someone who he could call. It was a long shot, but it was the best chance he had.

Taking a deep breath, Dougie double checked the name, and hit the call button. He held the phone up to his ear and listening to the ring, hoping desperately that someone would answer the call.

"Hello? Who's that?" A voice that Dougie had not heard in a long time made its way down the crackled reception of the phone line, and into Dougie's ear.

Dougie inhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts, trying to figure out what the hell he was supposed to say. This was it, though, it was now or never.

"Is there anyone there? Hello?" The voice intruded Dougie's ear once again, beginning to sound impatient with the silence to which it was faced.

"Jasper?" Dougie began, his voice quieter, meeker than he had expected, "Jasper, It's me..."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, gone? How could he have gone? Dougs can barely sit up, let alone leave the bed!" Tom shouted, frantic with panic.<p>

"I... I don't know. But he's not there, guys. He's gone, he's gone and it's all my fault. Oh god, what if those… What if those men got him again? What if he's hurt? Oh god, guys, what have I done?" Danny whispered, his legs giving way halfway though, collapsing onto the floor, his guilt overflowing in floods of tears.

Tom sank down next to the guitarist, wrapping his strong arms around the sobbing boy. Danny felt, rather than saw, the others crouch down next to him, too. He'd never felt so helpless, so guilty, or so desperate, in all his life. Not even when Dougie had been kidnapped. At least then they knew they always had at least a chance of getting Dougie back, and, as horrible as they may have been, they always had updates, they could always see how Dougie was, even when they wished they couldn't. But this, now… Now they had no idea where Dougie was, or if he was alright, or if he was hurt. Now, Dougie could be dead for all they knew. Danny knew that if he was, he would never be able to live with himself, nor would he want to be able to. Tears fell faster and faster down Danny's cheeks, his friends starting to shed tears along side him as the hopelessness of the situation they found themselves in dawned on them: Dougie was gone, again, but this time they had no idea how to get him back.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN so there we have it. The sweet, short chapter that's been too long in coming. Reviews would be nice, I always love hearing your thoughts on what happened. It makes me feel loved and like my writing is actually good :D also, does anyone actually read these authors notes? Cos I'm not sure and please do tell me if my ramblings annoy you :) LOVE. REVIEW.**_


	25. Chapter 25

_**A/N YAY finally a new chapter :) once again, I can only apologise for the long wait and blame it on the crazy amounts of schoolwork, revision and dance. I also have to let you know that over the next few weeks all my exams start and I'll be busy with so much revision, so I don't know how much I'll get done. But when they're over I have the whole of June, July and August off school and plan to finish this and also start another long Mcfly fic, so keep an eye out for that :D**_

**_Thank you once again to the amazing Orange-Peel-Pixie who not only has been here from the start but is beta-ing for me and making my scribbles so much better. She is awesome and if i could, I'd buy the boys for her :D_**

**_Disclaimer: mine, obviously. Pahahahahaa jokes, I don't own anything you own. Except in my dreams. Oooo actually, Jaspers mine :D. YAY_**

* * *

><p>Tom, ever the sensible one of the group, was the first to pull himself together. Regaining his wits, he glanced round at his friends, and, seeing their puffy red eyes, nearly started crying all over again. They all looked so heartbroken, it was as if they'd forgotten how to smile, or laugh, or even just how to be happy anymore. But if Dougie didn't come back, then who knew if they'd ever manage to be happy again? If they never knew if Dougie was okay, or safe, or even alive, Tom knew that they could never be alright again. He couldn't live like that. These boys were his bothers, and if they weren't happy, then Tom knew he could never be happy. And with Dougie gone, there was no hope in hell of any of them being alright anytime soon. He had to do something, fast.<p>

* * *

><p>"Dougie? What the hell are you doing, phoning me?" Jasper demanded down the phone, his words clipped harshly.<p>

"I'm sorry, Jasper, but… I had no one left to call. I have nowhere to go Jasper, you have to help me, please," Dougie's said, trying to keep calm, but breaking down on the last word. He hated having to ask for help, especially like this, but he was well and truly out of options.

"What, the celebrity lifestyle's not all it's cracked up to be?" Jasper replied, the bitter and jaded tone making Dougie wince.

"I'm sorry, Jasper. I never wanted to bother you, not again, not after what I did to you. I figured I owed you that much at least –"

"Yeah, you did. You still do," Jasper's sharp voice cut through the line.

Dougie sighed, "Listen, man, you have to believe me. Some shit's happened. I don't want to tell you over the phone, but it was bad, okay? And now I've left the guys, and I can't go home, and I have no one else to turn to," He shouted, rambling slightly.

"What, none of your oh-so-famous friends want to help poor little Dougie when he's been through a rough patch and run away from home because his pathetic celebrity problems got to much for him?" Jaspers taunted, cruel and mocking, in just the way he knew would make Dougie flinch.

Dougie felt his stomach twist up into knots, "Okay, so I deserved that," He whispered, "But Jasper, please, just meet with me and hear me out. I really have no one else to turn to, man. I'm being honest here. Please, Jasper, please help me. Or at least just listen to me." Dougie pleaded, feeling tears streaming down his cheeks.

The line went silent. Dougie wondered if something he'd said, or how he'd said it, could have touched this steely version the person he used to know.

"Whatever, fine. I'll meet with you and you can tell me all about your pretty-little-rich-boy problems. I'm at the St Mary Community Hall, you remember where that is, right?" Jasper asked, his voice softened slightly, but still wary.

Dougie laughed slightly, mostly from nerves, "Yeah. I couldn't forget if I tried man,"

"Funny you should put it like that. Seems like you forgot the moment you fucking took of for that band of yours, or forgot us, at any rate. But I'm sure we'll be able to talk about that. You can finally explain to me why exactly you left us. Funny you never did that, huh? But you should go now, before I change my mind," Jaspers tone returned to resentment, as tears leaked faster from Dougie's eyes.

"I'm sorry, Jazz, I'm so, so sorry for what I did to you guys. Thank-you for agreeing to meet with me, man."

"Whatever. I'm here now, rehearsing with the guys. Hopefully you remember them too, though you've probably forgotten all about your roots, right? I'll wrap things up and see you in a couple hours. And one last thing, Dougie, you lost the right to call me Jazz the day we stopped being brothers and you walked away,"

With that last words said, Jasper hung up and the line beeped dead. Dougie dropped his phone to his side and slumped to the floor, a nauseating concoction of exhaustion, fear, guilt and pain taking over his body. Going back to the hall to meet Jasper was going to drag up all sorts of memories, memories he'd rather not re-visit, memories he had being trying to suppress for the past year, or however long it had been since he'd walked out of that hall on that fateful day and tried his best not to look back.

It was almost right, in a way, that he was going back to the place where it had all started. And now it was all going to end, coming round full circle. He would talk to Jasper, fix things with his past and forget all about Mcfly, Busted, his band-mates and his famous friends, the celebrity lifestyle, the money and the music. He would stop being "Dougie from Mcfly", and would go back to being just plain old Dougie Poynter, mediocre bassist, best friend and partner in crime of Jasper Dommett. Life would go back to normal, and Dougie would have to learn to be happy again.

But first he had to wipe his eyes, pull himself together, get up and find a train that could take him back to his hometown. Dougie took a deep breath and heaved himself onto to his feet, trying his best to ignore the pain. Bracing himself, he swung his bag onto his back, picked up his bass, and shoved his phone into his pocket, before hobbling off in the general direction of the nearest train station.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN so hope you enjoyed that (really short, I'm sorry about that) chapter :D with the character of Jasper, we shall learn more about him in the next chapter and what part he has to play. At the end of the next chapter, I'll probably include a little note about his background and stuff so you get to know him :) I didn't even plan to include him, he just sneaked in in the last chapter :D_**

**_So you know the drill, please take a few seconds to review. Reviews are like drugs to an author, and do make me update faster. Pretty pretty please with cherries on top. Thank you to all those who already review :D i love you all. Also, even if you're anonymous review. I don't care._**


	26. Chapter 26

_**A/N YES finally I have managed to write a long chapter for you lovely people again. I have had it up to here with revisn, so took a break from the mountain of it to write this for you. Feel special, I wouldn't do it for just anyone ;)**_

**_YAY beta-d version :D Massive thanks to Orange-Peel-Pixie, she's done a fab job :)_**

**_Thanks once again to my fantastic reviewers, you mean the world. COOKIES ALL ROUND._**

**_Disclaimer: Nothing you recognise is mine._**

* * *

><p>Dougie stood at the bottom on the steps leading up to the St Mary Community Hall, shaking slightly as he gazed up at the building. Just being back there opened up the floodgates on all kinds of suppressed memories, memories most of which Dougie had tried so hard to forget. Some of the best days of his life had been spent here, with Jasper and the rest of the gang. When he'd left, Dougie had hurt them worse than he'd hurt anyone. He wanted to forget every second spent in this town, and especially in this building.<p>

But now he was back. There was no point in putting it off any longer. He had to go inside. He had to face his past.

* * *

><p>Tom inhaled deeply, sucking the air in through his teeth, shuddering. He pulled himself to his feet and surveyed the room containing his best friends, one man down. They were a pitiful sight, really. True, they had good reason to be, but it had to stop eventually, and now was a good a time as any. They needed to pull themselves together and figure out where Dougie had gone.<p>

"Guys," Tom barked sharply, frightening the others out of their crying stupors.

James gazed at the blonde-haired boy, blearily, "Wh-what Tom?" He asked, his throat sore from crying, evident by the hoarseness of his voice.

"Look, we need to pull ourselves together, guys. Crying isn't going to solve anything, and isn't going to get us Dougie back. We need to get our acts' together if we're going to find him, that's the only way to make any of this better. Yes, crying makes you feel a bit better now, but that's only temporary. Finding Dougie is the only way to fix this," Tom stated simply, his words barely appearing in his mind before leaving his mouth, feeling the truth in the words as they came to him.

"You're right," Harry said, almost as if he was shocked by the logic Tom was displaying, "Why are you always right?" He asked as an afterthought, in mock disgruntlement.

"Because I'm the brains of this band and house," Tom replied, smugly, "Now, up and at 'em, and all that, boys, we need to wash, dress, and probably eat, and then we can work out a proper plan of how to get Dougie back," He shouted like a drill sergeant, clapping his hands as he walked round the room, kicking the boys lightly to get them moving. They all started to stand up, grumbling as they did so.

"You might have the brains, but I have the looks," Harry joked, as he passed him on the way to the bathroom, "I call shotgun on the first shower!" He yelled, running through the door.

James scampered after him, asking what role he filled in the house if Tom was the brains and Harry the looks. The rest of the boys laughed as they heard Harry shout to James that he was the annoying one, and to get the hell out of the bathroom because he'd like his shower in peace, thank you very much.

Tom was pleased that his pep talk, however harsh it may have been at the time, seemed to be working. The boys seemed more determined that ever that something could be done, that they weren't going to sit around wallowing. They were going to be pro-active. They were going to get Dougie back.

There was a slight pause as the bathroom door slammed shut and the shower sputtered to life, before the boys turned their heads to see James, slouching back into the room, his lips pursed into a sullen pout.

"Harry chucked me out of the bathroom," James told his friends, indignantly, "I've seen him naked loads of times before, man. I mean, there's nothing there that I haven't seen before…. And he told me I was the annoying one!"

Charlie stifled a laugh as he ruffled James' hair, "Ahh Jamie, you know Harry likes to shower in peace. And he didn't mean it when he said you were the annoying one, you know he meant it in an affectionate way,"

James beamed up at Charlie, "Cheers Chaz. You're the kind one!" He giggled, as he ran to get his clothes. The others followed suite and soon they were all in the middle of changing.

Tom surveyed the room full of his friends in various states of undress and smiled in a satisfied sort of way. Yes, there was that underlying tension that wouldn't go until they had Dougie back with them safe and sound, but he much preferred to see his friends laughing and joking. It would make the matter of finding Dougie a lot easier if they weren't crying messes, and it would help them stay strong, for Dougie, especially if he came back any more fragile than he was when he left.

Soon enough, all the boys were showered, dressed, and had devoured the breakfast fry-up that Tom had cooked for them. They were settled round the table, Tom at the head, an air of authority given to him by the pen and notepad in his hands. A sombre mood fell upon the room. It was time to start devising phase one of Operation-Find-The-Dougster-And-Bloody-Well-Get-Him-Back-Where-He-Belongs, as James had so lovingly dubbed it.

* * *

><p>Dougie hobbled down the familiar corridor of the hall with his bag on his back and his bass in hand, following the music that floated through the hallway to his ears. With every step he took, with every smell that assaulted his nostrils, and with every sound that invaded his ears, a new, unwelcome memory came flooding back to him. Eventually, he made it to the open doorway to where the music was coming from. Dougie stood just inside the room, gazing at the band that were so fully absorbed in their practice that they hadn't even noticed him standing there yet, though for that he was happy. It was just nice to be able to look at them again, to see how they'd changed, and to have a chance to come to terms with what he had done to them before he had to talk to them, before he had to try and explain why he'd done what he had done.<p>

Before Dougie had left, there had been five of them in their gang: Jasper, Jonty, Sandy, Jack and himself. They had been tight; it had been them against the world. Dougie had been closest to Jasper, but the five of them spent had much spent every waking hour together. They had all been best mates since pre-school, and when they were about 13 they had formed the band: Spork Loin. They had been pretty good too, they had made all sorts of plans to crack the music industry, to get their music out there, to become famous. But then, Dougie left, and screwed any of their plans that had been made before.

Listening to them rehearse, Dougie looked on at his old friends. They had got better since the last time Dougie had been there rehearsing with them, much better, in fact. They were at a standard where they could actually take the music industry by storm. Dougie smiled, tinged with sadness. Even though he was in Mcfly now, he couldn't help but wish he was still with them, building castles in the sky.

Dougie looked on for a little while longer, studying his old friends. Jasper hadn't changed a bit. He still had the same old floppy, chestnut-brown locks, porcelain skin, and delicate features that he always had. He was still the skinny boy he'd always been, though there appeared to be have built up some amount of muscle, though it was hidden under his usual uniform of skinny jeans and a band t-shirt.

Jonty had changed slightly; his natural, dark brown curls replaced the short, black hair that Dougie was used to. It suited him. He'd lost weight as well, Dougie thought, compared to the last time he had seen him. Sandy still seemed to be the same, more of less, with the same messy, blonde hair, same v-neck t-shirt, and the same purple chinos. Dougie couldn't tell if he'd grown though. He chuckled to himself. Sandy had always been the short one, though none the less talented on the drums.

It was Jack who had changed most though. Dougie almost didn't recognise him, in fact. In that last rehearsal, the last time Dougie had seen him, Jack had had long, dark hair, was somewhat obese, had no fashion sense to speak of, wearing almost exclusively sweatpants and baggy jumpers, and was in serious need of some acne cream. Now, however, he had lost weight, and his skin had cleared up too. He was skinnier than Jasper now, almost as skinny as Dougie himself, and was wearing black skinny jeans with a slightly baggy, geometric-patterned t-shirt over the top, completed with a stripy cardigan. He'd cut his shoulder-length hair too, and now had it short, gelled into a messy perfection. Dougie whistled to himself – Jack looked good.

There was a new guy as well, someone Dougie recognised from his old school, but didn't know by name. This guy fit perfectly into the band, with his floppy dark blonde locks, muscular frame, khaki chinos, and stripy top. Dougie had to choke back tears slightly. He knew it was irrational, but he felt as though this guy had taken his place in the band. Suddenly, a familiar voice broke into his concentration.

"Well, you look like shit, Douglas,"

Dougie's head snapped up, as he looked his old friend in the eye for the first time in around a year.

"Jasper, it's… It's good to see you, man. And the rest of you," Dougie managed to choke out.

"Wish I could say the same," interjected Sandy, his voice filled with palatable tension and anger, as he got up from behind the drum kit and made his way over to join his friends at the front of the stage. Dougie walked slowly to stand in front of them, wary of the hostility he felt burning from them all.

"I don't," Jonty said, his voice sharp with bitterness, "Not after this bastard just upped and left us, just as we were about to sign the record deal… The record deal that could've given us our big break, the record deal we'd dreamed about for months,"

Jack and Sandy nodded in agreement. Dougie stared at them, pleading with them through his silence.

"I wish you knew how sorry I was, guys," Dougie whispered, softly, staring at his feet, "If I'd have known about that record deal I never would have left you, you have to believe me. I shouldn't have left anyway. It was selfish of me, I've regretted it ever since, you know."

"Although obviously not enough for you to come back to us, or you would have come back in the beginning. You know, that deal would have still been ours if you had. But you didn't. You stayed with that other band. I didn't realise fame was so important to you, but I guess we know what your priorities are now," Jonty spat out.

Dougie hung his head in shame, "I know. And I know just saying sorry won't change what I did, but it's true. But please, just let me at least try to explain. Let me buy guys coffee at the Costa down the road, and I'll try and explain why I did what I did… and I'll tell you why I'm here now," Dougie pleaded with them. There was a tense moment as the five on stage looked at each other and seemed to deliberate silently. Dougie just watched on with bated breath.

Eventually, Jasper looked back at Dougie and gave him a curt nod, "Okay, we'll hear you out. We at least want to know why you left us."

Dougie nodded gratefully, "Thank you so much. It means a lot to me."

"Whatever. Just lead the way before we kick you out and don't listen," Sandy told him, shortly. Dougie merely nodded and led the way out of the building, hoping that he could make his old gang understand.

_**A/N so hope you enjoyed that.**_

**_OOOOOO_**

**_ before I forget, I HAVE TUMBLR NOW :D come say hello and talk to me if you do to, I have the same username there. It's tumblr . com / blog / dreamer-dancer-writer (just take out the spaces)_**

**_Alternatively, I also have twitter, so if you also have twitter, come follow me on Bethany1D_DV and say hello_**

**_!, ask questions about the fic and what not. i'll also be able to keep you updated on what's happening and when I'm writing chapters and all that palava and you'll be able to ask questions, give me prompts and stuff._**

**_Sound good? You know you want to ;)_**

**_Anyhow ._**


	27. Chapter 27

_**A/N erm...this is awkward...I have no words. I'm really sorry...busy life is busy. Exams and actual life got in the way of fanfic writing and I am genuinely so sorry. Yeah. I'm just gonna shut up and let you read. I don't blame you if you've forgotten this fic entirely/don't want to read it anymore/hate me. This chapter was also a bitch to write (the amount of headdesks and doughnuts eaten to get it written...incredible) and I'm actually not happy with it...I apologise in advance. Yeah...**_

_**AYAYAYA BETA-D VERSION...MAHOOSIVE THANK YOU to the wonderful Orange-Peel-Pixie, who changes my crap scribblings into something actually worth reading!**_

* * *

><p>Tom smiled, looking down at the scribbles on the pages of his notepad. It had taken hours, but they'd finally managed to come up with what Tom considered to be a bloody good plan. He nodded, satisfied with what he had written down, and looked up at the boys, each of them in turn looking at him with anxious faces.<p>

"Guys, we've done pretty well here. Operation "Find-The-Dougster-And-Bloody-Well-Get-Him-Back-Where-He-Belongs" is good to go!" Tom grinned.

His band mates and friends began whooping and cheering in response, congratulating each other with pats on the back. Tom laughed. They really were a bunch of nutters; lovable nutters, perhaps, but nutters none the less.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa guys!" He called, trying to get their attention. They all stopped mid-cheer, frozen rather comically in position. Tom shook his head in despair.

"What now, Tommy? We're busy!" James cried, indignant at the interruption.

"Finding Dougs is only going to happen if you lot shut up and actually get on with what you're meant to be doing!" Tom scolded, folding his arms with authority.

"Err, what exactly is it that we're all meant to be doing again, Tom?" Danny asked with a slight grin.

Tom sighed in desperation, and recounted the plan for what seemed like the thousandth time, "Right, well, Danny, you're going down the police station and reporting Dougie as missing. Make sure you explain the situation properly to them… Matt and James, you go with him, make sure he tells them everything," Tom said to the three boys in question, who nodded in response before swiftly leaving the room, "Chaz, you're going to go scour the area, to see if you can find him. It's a bit of a long shot but it's worth a go. Check all the usual haunts, that kind of thing. And Harry, you and I are going to stay here and phone around Dougs' family to see if he's contacted any of them. Got it, everyone?"

"Yes Sir!" Charlie saluted, before running off, grabbing his car keys as he went.

Harry walked over to the sofa and flopped down, pulling out his phone from his pocket, "Who do you want me to phone first?" He asked.

Tom paused, thinking hard, "His mum I think. They talk all the time, he's bound to have called her," He said eventually.

Harry nodded and punched the number into his phone from memory.

Tom went to join his friend on the sofa. "Put it on speakerphone?" He asked, sitting down beside him.

Harry nodded and clicked the loudspeaker button. The two boys sat there listening intently to the phone dialling, praying to any deity that may have been out there that Dougie's mum would pick up the phone, and have some news for them.

"Hello?" The familiar voice of Dougie's mum came through the phone line. Both the boys visibly tensed as they heard her, dreading what they were about to have to say.

"Um, hey Mrs Poynter… It's Harry," Harry said, reluctantly.

"Oh! Hello there," Dougie's mum said, before launching into a series of questions about her son, asking how he was, how he was coping, trying to gage whether or not he was alright. Harry coughed, a subtle indicator to her to stop.

"See, um, that was what we were ringing about," Harry muttered, looking to Tom for help, shaking with fear.

"What? What's wrong with my baby?" Her voice rose higher, filled with terror for what could possibly have happened now.

"Well…um…I don't know how to put this, really…but…" Harry started, stuttering over his words as he tried to form sentences in his mind.

"Just tell me what's happened, Harry," Her voice was flat, firm, and to the point.

"Okay, sorry. He's…um… he's gone missing, and we were wondering if he'd called you," Harry eventually said.

There was silence on the other end of the line. Tom and Harry glanced at each other their eyes full of fear.

"He's what?"

"We don't know where he's gone. It was the first time we left him alone since, well, since the incident… and when we came back he wasn't there. He's not in the house and we just don't know where he's gone. We were hoping he'd have gone to you," Harry confessed.

"He's not called me since you all phoned a couple days ago…oh my poor boy," Mrs Poynter's voice shook.

Tom took the phone from Harry's hand, "Hi, Mrs Poynter, Tom here. We're so sorry. We never meant for something like this to happen," Tom told her, sincerely.

"Oh boys, I know, I don't blame you. You got my Dougs back and you tried to keep him safe, that's all that matters to me. Now we just need to find him," Tom sighed with the relief that came from learning that Dougie's mum didn't blame them for his disappearance.

"Would you…would you look around Essex for him? He might have gone back somewhere, I don't know, from his childhood or something," Tom asked, softly.

"Of course I will, boys. Phone me if you get any news?" She replied, warmly.

"Yeah, of course, we'll call you back as soon as we hear anything, Mrs Poynter,"

"Oh Tom, call me Sam. Bye boys," she laughed slightly and hung up.

Tom looked to Harry, "Well. That went well,"

* * *

><p>Dougie set down the tray of six cups of coffee, before pulling out a chair and taking a seat, looking down at his hands resting on the table, feeling the weight of the others' gazes on him. They sat in a somewhat awkward silence for a moment, before Dougie cleared his throat and looked up, meeting Jasper's hostile eyes.<p>

Dougie sighed, "I'm so sorry, guys, genuinely…. How's the band doing now?" He asked, curious.

"Fine. Not like you really care though. After all, you left us without so much as a second glance," Sandy interjected before Jasper could respond.

"I guess I deserved that," Dougie said keeping his eyes fixed on the table, "I do miss you guys though. And I did regret leaving the band, but I just never came back because I thought you all hated me… well, I knew you all hated me,"

Jasper laughed slightly, "We would've had you back Dougs. You were our friend…we would've hated you for a while, but we'd have gotten over it in the end. But the way you left and never even came back to visit… that hurt, Dougs," He said, gazing at Dougie, his eyes bright. "I act like I hate you now… but really, I guess I'm just still hurt that you'd leave your best friends like that and not even ever offer us an explanation. I miss you Dougs, but I don't think we can just forget about what's happened between us all just yet."

Dougie hung his head, hearing the truth in his former-friend's words, "I miss you too, Jasper… the amount of times I've nearly come back to see you guys, even just to hang like we used to… but I never could. I told myself I wouldn't come back. I wouldn't give myself the chance to betray you all again."

"Dougie, it hurt us more that you left without speaking to us again. We thought we weren't good enough for you, that everything we'd ever had didn't matter to you anymore. We thought that you didn't like us," Jack spoke this time, his voice quiet, his eyes, like Dougie's, remained fixed on the table.

"We all missed you so much when you left, Dougie, we didn't really understand it. We even disbanded the band for a while, there were too many memories tied up in it all," Jonty piped in.

Dougie looked sharply up at them, "You disbanded the band? But… why? Even without me, you guys would've been awesome,"

Sandy laughed shortly, "Yeah, but it wasn't the same. Remember that old motto we had, 'Together or No-One'? Kinda looks like you forgot that, though" Sandy's hostile gaze had softened slightly, but still looked on at Dougie accusingly.

"I-I know. Words aren't enough to tell you guys how sorry I am for everything that I did to you all. And I know sorry doesn't quite cut it, but please believe me when I say I am." Dougie said. He paused for a second in thought, "When did you get the band back together again?" He asked.

"That would be my doing," The boy who Dougie didn't really know spoke up, "I'm Scott. I'd heard you guys play before, and when I heard what happened I spent a couple months convincing them to get back together. It was only when I showed them I could sing and play bass that they actually did. We changed the name as well, we go by 'The Theory of Six Degrees' now," Scott shrugged as he sipped his coffee from the edge of the table where he was sat, not as involved in the conversation as the others.

Dougie smiled slightly, "Better name than 'Spork Loin'" He laughed, "I'm glad you got them playing again, Scott." He turned to the others, "You guys sound incredible now, much better than we used to," He told them, softly.

The other boys shared a smile.

"Yeah, It was alright, it was like, new name, new band. We never forgot about you though, Dougs," Sandy said, the air accusation having almost entirely melted from his gaze now.

"Honestly… We've missed you Dougs. I mean, you were a dick, but one dick-ish thing doesn't completely rule out all those years we spent together," Jack smiled at him. Dougie's heart lightened, hoping his old friends were on the verge of accepting him again.

"We were talking about this kinda before you arrived, about how much we missed you. You're still one of us, Dougs, if you want to be," Jonty said, his eyes bright.

Dougie grinned, "I never wanted to lose you guys in the first place, I just thought it would be easier," He told them, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. The meeting was going better than he ever could have imagined.

"You've always been a bit of an idiot when it comes to things like that… Well, you've always been a bit of an idiot in general," Sandy joked, "I mean, I suppose we should've seen it coming when you said you were leaving. We've always followed your progress with Mcfly though, Dougs. We're actually really proud of you and everything you've achieved. We should've been better friends and supported you in what you wanted to do," Sandy told him softly.

"No guys, I should've been the better friend and not left, or like, at least kept in touch at any rate. Let's just agree we all messed up, me a little more than you guys…. group hug?" He asked, standing up and holding his arms out.

Jasper was first up and hugged him tightly, "You're such a dick, but I did miss you. I love you man," Jasper whispered in his ear.

Dougie laughed, "Love you too, Jazz," He said, relived when Jasper accepted the old nickname with a smile. Jonty and Jack soon joined the hug, wrapping their arms around the pair. Sandy followed soon after.

"I think you're the biggest idiot on the planet Dougs, you always have been, but you've always been our idiot," Sandy spoke lightly, his eyes still slightly wary, but bright and friendly all the same.

Dougie just grinned and glanced at the boy still sat in his chair, "Come join us Scott?" Dougie asked,. "After all, if it wasn't for you, these guys wouldn't even be in a band anymore, let alone sounding as tight as you were!"

Scott grinned and joined the hug. After a few minutes they all separated and sat back down, eyes unnaturally bright with tears, mutual smiles across all of their faces.

"Don't lose touch with us again, okay Dougs?" Sandy asked, voice trembling.

Dougie shook his head, taking a deep breath and bracing himself, "Yeah, about that… I think you're about to be seeing quite a lot more of me… if that's okay?"

"Of course it's okay! Why thought?" Jack asked, confused.

Jasper looked at him, knowing there was more to Dougs' visit than met the eye, "Dougie, why are you here? What made you decide to come back now?" He asked, gently.

"Just, please listen to me guys, before you say anything. I promise everything I'm going to say is true," He pleaded, meeting each of their eyes individually. They all nodded in agreement.

Dougie drew a breath, bracing himself to continue, and began his sad and sorry tale, "Well, it began a while ago, backstage at one of our concerts…"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN so hope you enjoyed that, perhaps. I dunno anymore. New update should be soon though...sometime this week most likely, no later than sunday. I'm just gonna go hide in a corner now...**_

**_Oooo before I go, I was stalking Dougie earlier (hey, I'm on study leave. I have nothing better to do) and realised I inadvertently wrote Dougies life story in this...he was genuinely in another band before Mcfly (called Ataiz) and left them for Mcfly...didn't realise this before! I've obviously changed the band name and the people and stuff...but yeah. Made me laugh (also The Theory of Six Degrees is the name of one of my favourite bands, even though they've split and it's all sad and stuff. You should still totally go check out their stuff on Youtube though...)_**

**_I'm actually gonna leave now and cry in a corner because yeah. I really don't like this chapter and I feel all sad and stuff. Review if you want...I still love all my reviewers, you guys are fantastic. With any luck, I might get over 100 reviews by the time the next chapters up...don't think that'll happen though._**

**_Once again, I'm so so sorry._**


	28. Chapter 28

It took Dougie two hours and twice as many cups of tea to explain the story to his former bandmates. When he was finished, they sat across from him with jaws nearly touching the table. Several awkward moments passed as Dougie shrank back in his chair and away from the disbelieving stares he was receiving, his face buried in his tea. Eventually, Jasper broke the silence.

"Mate, you could win an Oscar if they made a story of your life." The comment broke the tension and there was laughter from all areas of the table, Dougie feeling more and more relaxed. He wasn't entirely sure his friends believed him, but there was no outright denial that what had happened had ever happened. And it was pretty unbelievable, Dougie knew that. If it hadn't actually happened to him, he would never in a million years believe it could have happened to anyone.

A harsh ring cut through the laughter, and all six boys automatically reached into their pockets to check their phones. Confusion twisted Jasper's features as an unfamiliar number popped up. Familiar fear flooded back through Dougie's veins as his best friend pressed the answer call button and stood up, pacing away from the table so that the boys couldn't hear his conversation, just in case. Dougie studied Jasper's face as he spoke, but the boy remained poker face. He walked back to the table five minutes later, guilt evident on his face.

"Dougs…that was your mum" Jasper told him, ignoring the shocked gasp that came from the boy across from him. "Don't look at me like that, I had to tell her where you are. She was hysterical mate, you can't do this to her" Dougie sighed, knowing Jasper was right.

"I know" he said dejectedly. He wasn't sorry for finding his old friends, if anything his experiences had taught him that friends were more important than he'd ever realised, and he was never going to lose contact with his old friends again. Dougie bit his lip. If he knew his mum and his friends, they'd all be here as fast as they could. He needed a distraction. "Hey, lads. I've definitely spoken about myself enough. I want to know what's been happening with you guys!"

A pleasant half hour passed as the friends all caught Dougie up on what had happened in their lives after Dougie had left, and he almost began to forget all about Mcfly and the kidnappers. He was brought back to reality with a thump when the door to the coffee shop banged open and a whirlwind of band members entered in a hurry, Dougie's mum heading them.

"Dougie!" seven different voices yelled his name and Dougie let his head fall with a thump onto the table.

"Shit" he murmured, his friends around him looking over at Dougie's band mates with interest. They rose and greeted the terrified looking men as they came to the table, glances being thrown Dougie's way.

"Is he okay?" Tom asked, the familiar worry evident in his voice. Jasper smiled fondly, and nodded.

"Yeah, he just really didn't want to be seen" he explained. Tom's forehead creased with a mixture of confusion and hurt. Jasper saw the look and shrugged.

"You'll have to ask him the answer to that one yourself" was the only reply. Tom nodded, and dropped into the vacant seat next to Dougie as the rest of all three bands began introducing themselves and discussing music.

"Dougs?" Tom asked, his hand hesitantly hovering over Dougie's back as he debated whether to touch Dougie or not.

"No" was the reply he got, and Tom bit his lip.

"C'mon man, you have to at least tell me why you ran" he pleaded. Dougie shook his head resolutely.

"You're acting like a child" Tom retorted, folding his arms and stuck his tongue out at Dougie's back. The boy in question had raised his head just in time to see this, and an eyebrow shot upwards.

"And you're not?" he asked. Tom sighed, admitting defeat with that one.

"Fine, but you have to tell me anyway" The other boys had stopped talking shop and were taking an interest in the conversation, all wanting to know what had been going around Dougie's head.

"I just…I wanted to stop ruining your lives. I wanted to fix everything I'd spoiled. If I wasn't there anymore Mcfly and Busted could be Mcfly and Busted again and you guys could focus on your music and get back to what you really love. And then I had to come here and fix what I'd fucked up with my old friends, because friends are really fucking important. And then I was going to go home and hide" Dougie told them all, letting his head fall back to the table again when he was finished to hide his embarrassment.

Dougie was expecting mixed reactions. What he wasn't expecting was for each and every one of his friends, including his mum, to burst out into peals of laughter to the point where tears were basically rolling down their cheeks. He lifted his head again and looked around at the group in amazement.

"Dougie mate, you really are the world's biggest twat"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: short, sweet, and very overdue. I'm only anticipating there will be one more chapter to finally, finally wrap this very long first fic of mine up if there are still any readers.) I make no promises, but I will definitely try and have the final chapter up by the end of the weekend.**


End file.
